A World Away
by Amity Pines
Summary: Rana is just a normal fourteen year old girl. Wrong. She is anything but normal. When she finds out that she must go to the one place that she never should go, she is terrified. No matter what, Rana must be ready for a summer in Gravity Falls, but is she? There will definitely be love, tears, and plenty of mystery. There's only one question. Will Rana destroy the town, or save it?
1. A New Mission

A/N: Really fast, I want to remind you guys that this is my first ever story, so bear with me, it might be awful. Also, I want to be very clear that I don't own Gravity Falls. You should probably know this if you are reading it, so I'm going to stop rambling. I am going to add one or two of my own characters to this story, and them, I am proud to say, I do own. The first chapter will mostly just be them, so don't worry if you barely understand what's happening. That's sort of the point. Sorry for all this, and feel free to tell me how to do things better for this story. Here we go.

Chapter one: A new mission

-? POV-

I looked down at the 14 year old girl in front of me. Her birthday had just passed, and it was time for me to give her the biggest news she's ever gotten. I pulled my dark hair into a bun, and looked at her, staring at me anxiously from across the desk.

The lighting in the room was fairly dim, so I could hardly see just how wide her blue eyes were getting, or how tightly her always bright red lips were pressed together. She seemed to be nervous, so she put her light brown, curly hair up in a side ponytail.

She was the best agent there was in my agency. She had saved so many lives in her 4 years of training here. She had been through so much, too. I knew it was time to give her a level one badge. She would soon become the youngest person to ever reach the highest ranking of the agency!

"What do you need from me, Mrs. Matthews?"

When she spoke, I suddenly remembered the task at hand. I needed to give her a final mission, to earn her level one badge. I straightened my blue dress, and I looked her in the eye, ready to give the good news.

She wiped her hands on her jeans, she was obviously not ready for a talk with the leader at the agency, but I still had my mind made up. One day, this little girl would very likely take my place, leading all these agents. She would start on her path to victory here and now.

"Rana, you know that you are one of our best agents, and most of the people your age wouldn't even be able to reach level 3, nonetheless level 2?"

She brightened up a bit, knowing now that the conversation was seeming to go in a very good direction.

"Yes, most of my friends are only level 5 or level 4."

I smiled at her, which seemed to throw her off a bit, considering she was apparently expecting to get fired or something. Still, after a bit of confusion, she smiled back.

"You know, Rana, you really would be able to handle level 1, wouldn't you?"

She opened her eyes wide again, along with her mouth. She obviously wasn't expecting this much.

"Well, yes, I guess so. One problem, though. Don't you have to be at least 18 to be level 1?"

I had already considered this, of course, and she should've known that, but I was very ready to make an exception for this child.

"You have already met every other requirement, so I can simply overlook your age. Although, there is one last thing you must do to reach level 1. Do you know what that is, Rana?"

She looked at me, a little bit like I was crazy, but then she sat up straight and gathered her thoughts, and spoke again.

"Of course I do! The last thing an agent must do to reach level 1 is go undercover for 3 months to a world where we no longer have a TV show or movie or book series to use for the public to know what is happening there. So, basically, 3 months of deep cover in the unknown."

Oh, you probably don't understand a word Rana just said. The agency that I lead is a special one. We use television and books and general creativity as portals into a new world. Every time a book is written or a movie is shown, or a TV show is aired, a new world is born. There is an entire timeline for the world, don't get me wrong. Still, all that the public will see is the part that has been written for the public eye.

We still have a way into the world after the show or book or movie ends, but we only get limited information on what is going on. What Rana had to do was terrifying. She needed to go to a world that we know very little about anymore, and she needed to protect the residents from a new evil. I decided to speak again.

"Yes, and you have saved many residents of many worlds, and not altered too much of their timelines. Still, we all know that there is one more world that you have not yet been to, one that you have always wanted to go to. The agency has discovered a new threat to this world and you will likely need at least three months to exterminate it. You are the best choice for this mission, and we'd love it if you would accept."

She suddenly realized what world I was talking about. Then I got the "you're crazy" look again. Soon, she found the words to say to this mission.

"Wait, you're not sending me to Gravity Falls, are you? We both know the reason I've never gone there! What if _he_ escapes my mind?! I've kept him trapped there for so many years! He will destroy them! His powers are stronger there! I won't be able to fight them!"

She was breathing very quickly. She was absolutely horrified at what I had just said. That didn't matter. She had to accept that she was the only one who could defeat this new threat.

"Rana, you and I both know that he has been drawing you towards Gravity Falls. He wants to go back, and he will do it with or without you. If he goes without you, then no one can ever defeat him again. If he goes with you, then you can keep him contained, and maybe even use his powers against him."

Rana then looked at me, confused. She hadn't known that she could use his powers against him! She needed to know, I said the right thing.

"What do you mean, use his powers against him?"

It was time to explain. This was going to be tough.

"He has lived inside you so long, that you could possibly channel his powers, because they are inside you, too! When he leaves you, one of four things might happen. One, he keeps the power, you get nothing. Two, you keep the power, he gets nothing. Three, you both get some of the power. Four, and I hope this doesn't happen, one or both of you die."

She stared at me, wide-eyed. She started to shake.

"What? Why would I die?"

This was not going to be fun.

"You two have a special link now. It may very well kill you to break it. That's part of the reason why he hasn't escaped yet."

She took a deep breath. Then, she sat up straight and looked me in the eye.

"Fine. It sounds like I am the only one that can protect those kids from the threat, then. I assume that I'm going to the second summer in Gravity Falls, and protecting the kids from the same thing that I may very well unleash upon them?"

I nodded, solemnly.

"Then I accept. When do I leave?"

I smiled. Then, I delivered the least shocking news of the day.

"You will leave tomorrow."

She nodded her acceptance, and we said our good byes, and she left.

A/N: I promise that in the next chapter, you will see plenty of the Gravity Falls characters that you know and love. Rana is going to have an interesting time there, to say the least. Keep on reading! There will be more action, emotion, and mystery as the story progresses.


	2. Deep Cover in the Unknown

Chapter 2: Deep Cover in the Unknown

-Rana POV—

 _I'm finally in Gravity Falls. My family and friends are all a world away. I still can't believe that Mrs. Matthews just decided that I only need a day to get ready. I haven't had enough training to come here yet. I'm only a kid! No. Mrs. Matthews knows what she's doing. She sent me to Gravity Falls because she thinks I can handle it._

It was true, too. As long as I could keep _him_ in check, this mission is going to be simple. I just needed to keep the twins occupied.

I took a look at my surroundings. The portal had opened onto the bus to Gravity Falls. Luckily, I didn't think that the driver saw. There was no one else there. It was just the oversized, bald driver, and I. I suddenly realized that I was in the middle of the aisle, and the driver was currently looking at me like some kind of criminal.

I sat down, my cheeks turning a little red. I saw that we must've been a few stops away from where the twins would soon get on. The next thing I did, and I know that this isn't very exciting, I simply waited. There was nothing else for me to do until the twins arrived. I went over my cover story a million times as I sat.

Stan and Ford were going to be coming back for the summer, too, so I used them a little in my cover story. Ford currently thought that I was coming so that he could help me learn more about Bill Cipher. My family had been tormented by him for the past few years and we simply wanted Ford to help us defeat the stupid, annoying triangle once and for all.

This was partially true. My family _had_ been tormented. I _was_ planning on defeating that stupid demon this summer. I just didn't plan on letting anyone help. I also had to, all the while, make sure that he didn't go after the twins again.

The bus doors opened, and the twins climbed in. It was time. Dipper saw me, and looked a little confused. He walked up to the seat across from me, absentmindedly. The poor kid was trying to avoid eye contact. Mabel, on the other hand, immediately looked at me and smiled. She headed straight for me.

"So, where are you going?"

I looked her up and down. This was really happening! Mabel Pines was actually talking to me! I made sure that this was really her. Yep. It was the same brown hair, the same weird attitude, the same style, her pink shooting star sweater, with a pink skirt. She was talking to me, and more, she wanted to know about me.

Oh. She wasn't supposed to know that much. I gathered my thoughts, and got ready to tell this poor, innocent little girl a few lies. There would be plenty of truth, just lies interlaced inside of them.

"I'm going to Gravity Falls, with you, I'm guessing."

As I spoke the town's name, Dipper looked towards me, too. He looked just like his sister, except you could tell how serious he was, but that he could be just as weird as his sister if he wanted to. His stare was curious. The idea that this coincidence was occurring seemed to be urging him to find out why. Then, suddenly, he looked more confident, like he'd just figured out the answer to some huge question, and, to him, he had.

"Oh! You're Rana! You're supposed to be coming to talk to Ford about Bill! Oh. You're having Bill problems. Hey. I've been dying to ask you about that. I thought Bill was dead? Didn't we defeat him?"

His face went from confident to concerned so quickly. Mabel's face did the same. _Stupid Ford!_ I thought. _When did you forget how to keep a secret?_ I had to think a little bit about it, before getting ready to answer to all that he had just said and asked.

"Yeah, I'm Rana. It's true, Bill has been tormenting my family for a lot of years. Actually, he's mostly been tormenting me. It's no biggie, though, he's weak, he can only talk to me in dreams."

I didn't even flinch at my lie. He definitely could talk to me outside of dreams. The stupid demon was always talking to me through my thoughts. Sometimes I couldn't even distinguish his speech from my real thoughts. There was no more time to dwell on that lie. I had way more of them to tell. Despite my plans, Dipper responded before I could continue.

"Okay, well, how did Bill come back to life, then?"

He didn't even know that Bill had only become a statue, once defeated. This was going to be a tough one to explain. Hopefully, that was another lie in itself.

"He was never dead. When you defeated him, he became a statue. He was left somewhere to rot in the forest. Some idiot must have found him and freed him. Then, I don't know why, but he came and started torturing my family. We've got him mostly under control, but he's still an annoying little thing."

I actually did know why he came to my family. He wasn't freed by some idiot, he was freed by Rayla. Rayla was another demon. She was different from Bill, though. She was a shape shifter. She could very much be seen, but only when she wanted to be. Rayla set him free, but sent him to a different time, when I first started training at the agency. He immediately took an interest in me, and when he started attacking me in my dreams, instinct kicked in. I simply trapped him inside my mind. There was space enough in there for the both of us. Okay, also a lie. I put him inside a prison that I figured out I could form inside my mind. He couldn't take up too much space, but he could definitely annoy me whenever he wanted to.

Rayla found a way to get through a portal and back, just quick enough to bring Bill back and send him to me. That's the true story behind the whole Bill thing. Not that the twins were ever going to get to know. The rest of what I told them was pretty much true. At the moment, the stupid triangle really was just an annoyance. He was never dead. He was a statue.

When I looked up from the deep thought, Dipper and Mabel were both staring at me, with concerned expressions on their faces. Then, Dipper spoke again, every word questioning.

"I thought you said he's been tormenting you for years?"

Oh, right. I had forgotten that little detail. Then, I remembered a key detail that was about to save my cover.

"You know as well as I that time travel is quite possible."

The three of us sat there for the rest of the ride in silence. There was nothing left to say. A couple of hours later, the bus came to a screeching stop. Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, then at me, and then we all smiled. We might not have had an easy summer ahead of us, but it was going to be a great one.

As we stepped off the bus, I stopped them. I needed to say one last thing before the summer really started.

"Dipper? Mabel?'

They turned towards me, waiting for me to say something.

"I need you to promise me something."

The twins looked at each other, then turned back and nodded. Dipper looked slightly suspicious, while Mabel just looked her happy self again.

"You need to promise me that you won't get involved in the "Bill" thing. This summer is all about you. You two just focus on having a ton of fun!"

Dipper nodded, with a slight smile on his face. Mabel's smile simply grew even brighter as she nodded her agreement as well. Then, Mabel asked a pretty interesting question.

"Wait a minute. With Bill gone, and Weirdmageddon over, will the weirdness still be there?"

That was a question that I had feared. I didn't want to deliver the bad news.

"Actually, from the research that I've done, most of the weirdness will be seriously decreasing. He wasn't the cause of it, but he made it stronger. Without him still having tons of power, a lot of the Gravity Falls magic will be lost."

The twins looked a little bit disappointed at that. We still weren't going to let it stop us from having an amazing summer, though. Anyways, there was still going to be a little bit of weirdness left over from last year.

As the three of us leaped onto the ground and then into Stan's car, one by one, I only knew for sure about one thing this summer. It was going to be amazing.

A/N: This chapter was a little bit sad, I know. I already warned you that there would be plenty of emotion. There will be more tears shed as the story moves on. My goal is to make you all cry at some point. If that's not what you're going for in reading this, then this is not the story for you. Unless you're heartless. This is the only case in which you will not cry. Keep reading, keep reviewing, and don't be heartless. Please tell me what you think of my story, and feel free to criticize! I want to make my story better as it progresses, I don't want to let it get stale. I hope you all stay for the next chapter, A New Kind of Weirdness.


	3. A New Kind of Weirdness

A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry about the short break. Most likely I will try to update every day except for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Sunday. That's pretty often for one of these, but this story is destined to be very, very long. I have a lot of the story already planned out, so keep an eye out for foreshadowing. There are plenty of secrets to be revealed. Okay, time for the part you've all been waiting for, the 3rd chapter of A World Away.

Chapter 3: A New Kind of Weirdness

-Rana POV-

I placed my hand on the doorknob to my new, and yet so old, bedroom for the summer. It used to be Ford's room, but he had resigned to the couch so that I could have a real place to sleep. I looked around the room, it was very plain, wooden walls, no furniture except a desk and a bed. I was going to have to do something about that.

I set up my bed and put up my purple curtains, then I went downstairs for dinner. It was going to be my first meal at the Mystery Shack! This was going to be exciting! But then I realized that it has been hinted at a million times or more that Stanley Pines can not cook. A few hours later, and I could very much confirm those hints to be extremely, painfully true.

After dinner, I went up to my room, so tired that I could fall asleep immediately! I was so ready for sleep, that I didn't even get ready for bed, I just lay down and closed my eyes.

But instead of falling asleep, I felt a sudden urge, almost a physical pull, to the forest of Gravity Falls. Without really thinking, I stood up, put on my favorite pair of boots, and walked towards the forest, almost like a zombie. I was barely even aware of the noises and movements surrounding me.

Even though I couldn't really process what was happening around me, I still heard a light thumping behind me the whole time I walked. When I finally got feeling and my senses back, I was standing in the middle of some kind of clearing in the middle of the woods.

I realized a few seconds later what had just happened. That definitely wasn't _me_ walking towards the clearing. It must've been Bill! He wanted something with this clearing. I didn't know what, but it couldn't have been good.

Then, I saw what was in the middle of the clearing. The crystals, the ones that could control size, were sitting right there, and my hand was reaching out towards one! I quickly pulled my hand back. Bill had wanted me to touch it, so I knew that it was a very bad idea.

"Rana? What's going on?"

 _Oh no!_ It was Dipper. He had followed me! That was the thumping that I heard on my way to the clearing! I turned around.

"I was just, um, checking to see if these crystals still had their power!"

It would've been a good idea, if that was what I was actually doing, so I was just going to wing it, and claim that idea. Besides, it would be pretty interesting to find out if they really did have their power!

He still didn't look convinced, but he said nothing on the subject of what the truth might be. Instead, he walked up to the crystals, grabbed one, and held it in his hand. He turned it around a little, then he grabbed a flashlight, and pointed the light at the crystal. We both knew that the crystals needed to be reflecting light.

He put his hat in front of the crystal, and waited for it to shrink. Nothing happened! Gravity Falls really had lost its magic! The both of us looked down at the ground. This wasn't a fun discovery. After what seemed like hours, but was probably seconds, of silence, Dipper spoke.

"Wow. Gravity Falls really is just a normal old town, now."

I could see his expression grow from disappointed to depressed in a matter of seconds. I had to say something to cheer him up!

"Hey, Dipper, we still have the weirdest people on the planet! Don't forget that this place will always be different, even if the town itself isn't, anymore."

He smiled a little. It was barely visible, but it was there. I smiled a half-smile back at him. Then I took the crystal from him and turned it around in my hand, just like he had. I was preparing to analyze it a little more, but something very odd happened.

The crystal just melted into my hand! That should not have been possible! _Well, I guess that means Gravity Falls is still really weird!_ Then, I felt something horrible. It was like a fire burning inside and out.

Suddenly, I realized that Dipper was staring at me in horror! He looked shorter than normal. No. He wasn't shorter, I was floating! I immediately noticed the blue fire that was surrounding me. It looked familiar. The fire was exactly the same as the stuff that erupted all over Bill's hand when he was about to make a deal!

I guessed Dipper had figured it out, too. Even though I couldn't really hear anything around me, I could see his lips form the word "Bill".

The pain of the fire had subsided, it felt calm, it felt good. It was less like being burnt, and more like sitting by a fire during the winter. No. I had to think of what could be causing this.

It was painfully obvious what it was. Due to the fact that I had Bill inside of me, all of the powers that Bill used to have, and all of the Gravity Falls weirdness, was being transferred to my control! I couldn't handle that kind of power! What if Bill took over and used it to start another Weirdmageddon? What if the power hurt one of the kids? Or innocent townsfolk? This was not a good thing. This couldn't be good.

Still, it felt amazing. _NO!_ I looked over to Dipper, who looked absolutely horrified. I had to fight this. As I tried to either push the power away or take it all in, quickly as possible, the pain came again. I began to feel like I was being burnt again, standing in the middle of the hottest fire in the universe. Although, I guess I was.

Dipper started to come closer to me. Once he was right at the edge of the fire, he started to reach out his arm. What was he doing? He must've thought that I would just be able to put out the fire if he gave me some motivation! No! I couldn't!

He hesitated, seeing that I had started screaming. He looked at his arm, and a doubtful expression came across his face. Then, he looked back at me, more confident, and put his arm in the fire. I burst into tears. Then, the fire seemed to disappear around me, and I blacked out. The last thing I saw was Dipper running over to me, screaming out my name. I couldn't answer.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! It was definitely weird! This was going to be one chapter with the next one, but it got too long, so I'm looking forward to finishing up with the next chapter! It's going to be called Magic Inside.


	4. Magic Inside

A/N: Okay, I hope you guys are ready for the weirdness to get intense, and for the tears to be shed! Really fast, and I think you guys already know this, but I am going to tell you guys why this story is partly a romance. Dipper and Rana are going to fall in love. You probably already figured this out, already, though. Sorry if my last chapter was bad, I wrote it while I was super tired. Alright, sorry for the rant! Time for the chapter!

Chapter 4: Magic Inside

-Rana POV-

I blinked my eyes open, slowly. The first thing I saw was Dipper's face, and he was terrified. When he saw my eyes had opened, though, he let out a sigh of relief. We sat there, relieved smiles on our faces, in complete silence, for who knows how long. He was the one to break the silence.

"Thank goodness you're awake! For a minute there I thought you might be…"

He cut off. He was right to do so, too. Neither one of us wanted to think about what would have happened if I hadn't woken up. Both of us had different reasons, though. I just couldn't let either of them down! He apparently truly loved me. I guess I felt the same.

Still, it wasn't supposed to be legal to be with someone from another world, so there was no point. I needed to think about the important things. There were so many questions. Had I completely absorbed all of the power? Had it gone back to the town? Would it hurt anyone? How would I control it? What triggered the powers before they were controlled?

There were always triggers with these things. I had enough friends who had started out with powers that they couldn't control to get that. It was usually some kind of emotion, I knew that for certain. I had one friend that shrunk down every time that she felt sad! She was an interesting friend to have. Every time she wanted to talk to me about something bad that had happened, she would have to scream it, because she was about an inch tall!

I looked around me, taking in my surroundings for the first time since the fire had started. There was a lot more space in the clearing. _Of course!_ The crystals were missing! They were just gone!

"Where did the crystals go?"

I asked the question, knowing the answer all too well. The crystals, along with all of the other weird things in Gravity Falls, were inside me. Well, not literally. The physical crystals were no longer needed. I had their powers. I had all of what made Gravity Falls so special inside of me.

"The crystals disappeared when you went up in flames!"

Dipper finally uttered the words I had been waiting for. I knew they were coming, but I still flinched at the thought of it. I had to figure all this out, but I needed help.

"So that means I must have their power!"

When I said those words, Dipper looked a little bit confused. He put this confusion into words only a few seconds later.

"What do you mean? Just _their_ power, or…?"

He hadn't understood. I didn't want to keep talking about this, but I needed to help him understand the weight of this problem.

"No. I have just absorbed all of the weirdness of Gravity Falls, Dipper. And before you say how cool it is, you need to understand that it is not! I might not be able to control this! I might randomly wipe someone out of existence!"

I was hyperventilating by now. Dipper had a terrified, sad, concerned look on his face. He tried to comfort me a little bit.

"Rana, you'll be fine. You're not going to hurt anyone! I barely even know you, and yet I know for a fact that you would never do that! We'll figure this out, together. I won't even tell Mabel if you don't want me to, unless she somehow becomes involved."

I had calmed down a little bit at that point. Still, his words of comfort weren't helping much. I was able to keep calm, but I still knew that even with his help, this was beyond anyone's control. I said one last thing on the subject.

"Dipper, I could cause the second Weirdmageddon!"

He looked confident until I said that. Even then, he only seemed doubtful for a few seconds, and then found his confidence again.

"You won't."

He sounded so positive. He sounded like there was no force on earth that could defy that logic. He was either a seriously good actor, or he really believed in me! I chose to believe the latter, and I smiled at him.

"Okay, I give up. There's no convincing you, is there?"

He smiled right back at me.

"Nope, never in a million years could I ever be convinced that you would be able to hurt someone!"

I knew this would soon be proved wrong, but I was happy. I was excited! I might've even been in love! No. That was not possible. That was wrong, and I would never break that rule. I couldn't.

Then, I curled up in a ball, groaning. A new pain had come over me! It felt like there was a storm swirling inside of me. Lightning striking my heart and everything it could find. Soon, a blue lightning strike made me look up.

The trigger must have been happiness, or maybe love. This lightning was definitely from me. It shouldn't have been, but it was. Dipper looked up at the sky in terror.

"What's going on?'

He asked the question, obviously hoping for an answer that was simple, or at least safe. It was too bad I wasn't willing to lie again.

"My new powers are showing up! I don't know what this lightning will do if it strikes you, but it will most definitely _not_ be a simple burn! Run for cover! I'll try to end it, but until then, make sure it doesn't strike you!"

By the end of that, I was yelling. If he was going to hear me, that was my only answer. The storm had gotten louder and louder, it was almost unbearable!

Dipper nodded and we both ran to opposite sides of the clearing. I found a rock to hide behind, and I sat against it and tried to calm down and end the storm. It took me what must have been at least two hours or so, before I heard a scream, and ran out to find out what had happened. The only person it could've been was Dipper, and I needed to make sure that he wasn't hurt too badly!

The second I reached the center of the clearing, the storm stopped. I searched the whole clearing for Dipper, but he was nowhere!

I fell to my knees, sobbing. I had killed him! I lost control and caused a storm and killed him!

It didn't matter that he was dead, I kept screaming his name anyways. After about ten minutes of screaming, my voice had worn out. I had been screaming all night, so it didn't take much. Once I stopped screaming I looked down at my knees, which were curled up just under my face, and uttered three words.

"I'm so sorry."

I sobbed into my knees for a few minutes after that, but soon I felt something crawling up my leg. I looked up, and waited for it to get up on my knee. I was planning to swat whatever bug that was off the second it came into sight, but when it did, I saw that it was no bug.

It was Dipper. I had shrunk him. He was one inch tall, and he was sitting on top of my knee. I sighed of relief. As I did so, Dipper nearly fell.

"Careful!"

I laughed. He was okay! I hadn't killed him, only shrunk him! The lightning had not done anything horrible. I could reverse this! It would take some work, but I could do it!

"Never scare me like that again! You should have told me you were here! You left me here for I don't even know how long, and I thought you had died! I want to slap you so hard right now, but it would probably kill you!"

I was yelling at him. He really did nothing wrong, but I needed someone to yell at, so I did. He even seemed to be okay with it!

"Rana, it was twenty minutes at most. It wasn't that long. Plus, it's basically payback! You did the same thing to me, earlier!"

We both started laughing. I needed to hear something funny. Both of us did. This night had gone from bad to worse, but we were able to just laugh at the moment. It was good to just joke around a little bit!

"Well, I was unconscious, stupid!"

We laughed even harder. Then, we had to figure the situation out. I spoke, with a serious note.

"Should we tell Mabel about this when we get back to the Shack?"

He started to look thoughtful. Then, he gave his answer.

"Yes, we need at least a little bit of help, and she'll understand the situation."

I nodded. Considering none of this was supposed to happen, I was just winging it. I put him on my shoulder and started walking back to the shack. We decided to chat a little bit on our way. Dipper started off with a question that I really didn't want to answer.

"So, Rana, what's your family like, back home?"

I sighed. This kid didn't have any idea how to have a conversation that didn't make me cry, did he?

A/N: Hope you liked this! Can't wait for the next chapter, The Unforgettable Past.


	5. The Unforgettable Past

Chapter 5: The Unforgettable Past

-Rana POV-

He had asked the worst possible question. I looked down to the ground. My family.

"I, um, I don't really have a family."

He jumped a little bit. It kind of hurt, but I didn't show it. He apparently decided to press further.

"Not even an adoptive family?"

I sighed. He didn't know when to quit, did he?

"No. I got a job when I turned ten and have my own apartment. I live alone. My parents died just after I was born. Up until I got my job, I just moved around foster homes. I ran away from one of them, just before my tenth birthday, and then I got my first job offered to me."

I turned my head to see his face. He looked slightly shocked and confused. He tried to clear things up.

"What do you mean? Is it even legal to have a job or an apartment to yourself when you're ten?"

I laughed a little. He thought I was perfect, or something! For one, there was way less legal parts of my job. I'm pretty sure that opening portals to other dimensions was probably illegal. So was hiring ten year olds. Then proceeding to send them to their possible doom.

Another thing, after I ran away, and Mrs. Matthews offered me my job, I kind of had to assume a new identity. With the help of my friends at the agency, I did just that.

"Well, no. After I ran away, I made a few changes. According to the law, I am now a 26 year old woman who volunteers at animal shelters every Saturday."

I smiled, innocently. He looked at me with a little bit of shock. The more obvious emotion on his face was amusement, though. What? Did you expect me to be perfect, too?

In my defense, I needed to do this to stay alive. Anyways, Ms. Matthews promised to provide meals after every mission, so life was pretty good, that way.

As we neared the Shack, I decided to change the subject.

"So, how is life in California?"

He was almost as relieved as I was to get a subject change. He answered.

"It's actually pretty boring. I did once see a guy who I was pretty sure was a vampire, though."

We laughed. I responded, trying to keep the mood going.

"Hey, that's half of all kids our age, man. What's new?"

We burst out laughing. By the time we reached the shack, we were almost in tears!

I pulled the ponytail holder out of my hair, and tried to hide Dipper as I walked into the Shack. The first person I saw inside was Mabel, who was trying to make Stan understand fashion. When they realized that I was in the room, they paused, and asked even more questions that I didn't feel like answering. Honestly, the Pines had no idea how to keep quiet, did they? It was Mabel who spoke first.

"Rana! Do you know where Dipper is? Where have you been?"

The two of them looked at me, waiting for my answer. Since I didn't have one that I could say in front of everyone, I had to be creative.

"Um, Mabel, would you mind coming up to my room with me for a second?"

Okay, not very creative. In my defense, it still worked!

The both of them looked at me like I was crazy, but Mabel still nodded and went up to my room. When we got up there, she broke the silence. Her smile had gotten smaller, but was still there.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

I nodded, and put my hair back up. When she saw Dipper, she gasped.

"What happened? What did you do?"

My cheeks were turning a bright red. So were his. How were we going to explain this? I decided to try at least.

"Well, I kind of absorbed all of the weirdness of Gravity Falls, and then caused a storm, which apparently can shrink people when the lightning strikes them!"

She looked at me, obviously confused. She then held out her hand in front of Dipper, implying that he should slide onto it.

When he was safely on her hand, she drew it back towards herself. She looked at him, concern coming across her usually happy face. When he noticed it, he tried to reassure her.

"Mabel, everything is going to be fine. We just need to find a way to reverse this! Rana is in complete control, okay?"

She seemed a little calmer after that. Still, none of us were completely okay. Everything had just been sort of ruined. My simple summer mission was now a fight to keep the whole town alive!

I could do it, though, right? If I couldn't, then the whole town was doomed. It was official. My time in Gravity Falls was going to seriously affect everyone. I was either going to be the end of this town, or the new beginning.

A/N: This was an interesting chapter! Don't worry, the secrets revealed in this chapter aren't the only ones. I think I'm going to start inserting little riddles in each chapter, just to see if you guys can figure out the truth before Rana even does, herself. They won't be hard. Tell me what you think the riddles mean in the reviews! Here goes for my first try!

* * *

Riddle: The past will become the future, and the future will become past. Only one can ever fix this mistake. But will this person last? Very few can ever unravel that unforgettable past.

* * *

Sorry, I need to say a bit more. I hope that you guys actually try to figure this stuff out! Okay, I promise I won't ramble this time. Can't wait for the next chapter, Problems Solved as New Ones Come.


	6. Problems Solved as New Ones Come

Chapter 6: Problems Solved as New Ones Come

-Rana POV-

I was going to have to think fast. It was now my second day in Gravity Falls. Dipper was reported "missing". The whole town was searching for him!

Dipper, Mabel, and I were all sitting on my bed in my room, trying to figure out a way to fix things. This was how we'd been for the past 24 hours, with the exception of meals. When we had gone downstairs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that day, Mabel and I just saved some scraps for Dipper.

At some point, I gave up on thinking. I stood up, and I decided to start making something happen, regardless of what that was. The twins looked at me, wondering what I may have come up with. They were going to be disappointed.

"Alright, I'm done sitting around, doing nothing about this! Mabel, bring Dipper over to that desk over there. I've got an almost plan."

They looked at me, confused. I'd been getting a lot of that from them. It was normal at that point. Once he was on the table, Dipper finally decided to figure out what I was thinking.

"What exactly _are_ your plans, Rana?"

I froze, and then I smiled mischievously. Time to explain!

"Well, I have powers now, don't I? I'm just gonna, well, test them out a little! You just need to stand there, and try not to worry! Most likely whatever happens won't be any worse than this."

He stared at me, obviously questioning my sanity. Before either one of them could protest, I started trying to use my powers. It took me a few minutes, but after a while, I figured it out!

Well, I figured out how to use my powers, and mostly how to control them. I did not, on the other hand, figure out how to bring Dipper back. I figured out that any strong emotion will trigger the magic, so I just needed to keep my emotions in check. As the fourteen year old girl who was basically currently living with her celebrity crush, I was going to have a pretty tough time with that.

I also found that if I want to use them, I just need to think about what I want to happen, channel that thought to my whole body, and release. You may think that sounds crazy, but it is really quite simple. It's just that anyone without magic wouldn't be physically able to know the feeling.

I imagined Dipper at his normal height, and I went through the process. Really, all magic works the same way, but others use gestures or wands for style. No matter what they say, that's all those things are, an attempt at style. As I went through the process, I started to float a little, and an enormous amount of pressure pulsed throughout my entire being.

Then, a blue glow began to emanate from me. The blue glow must've been from Cipher. Stupid Triangle. Once I had returned to the ground, and the glow disappeared, I looked towards the desk. Dipper was sitting on the edge, but he was still tiny. This had been about my fiftieth try. It was definitely the least horrifying outcome. This would be because that outcome was absolutely nothing.

There must have been some kind of lock on whatever I'd done to him! That was the only explanation that I could think of. What could it have been? What was different about last night? We were all thinking the same things. The same questions were running through all of our heads. I was the only person to say something.

"There is obviously some kind of lock on what I did last night. I could reverse everything else I did! Think about it! What was different about last night? Any ideas?"

I looked around the room. Mabel and Dipper were just staring at me blankly. None of us had any idea what could have been different between last night and tonight. It was the same kind of night. Same stars, same moon, same Mystery Shack, same everything. The only difference was the stress and fear level in all of us.

Then it hit me.

"Of course! How could I have missed it!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, but nobody cared. What they cared about was the fact that I had figured it out.

"What do you mean? What is it?"

The both of them spoke at the same time, and it was kind of freaky, but I still went on, smiling so wide that Mabel couldn't even match up.

"It's so obvious, right under our noses!"

I was pacing around the room at that point, unable to keep still. Mabel ran over and grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me and the eye. Then she yelled as loud as she could.

"Well, not for us! Tell us, woman!"

I shook her off of me. Immediately after this, I regained composure and explained, at as normal and serious a tone as possible.

"Think about it. There was only one difference about last night!"

I paused, hoping for a response. When none came, I pressed on.

"Last night, I couldn't control my powers! The cause of what I did to Dipper was some kind of magical trigger! The triggered powers must be different from the controlled ones! They must be stronger! Therefore, I simply need a reverse trigger from the one from last night to reverse what it caused!"

I was excited! Mabel was just incredibly confused. Dipper, on the other hand, seemed to slightly understand.

"So, what triggered it last night? What would be the reverse?"

He asked the question anxiously. I was less anxious, more excited. I had it all figured out!

"The triggers for my powers are strong emotion. It could be only one, or a specific combination. The combination from last night at the point where everything started was happiness, relief, and love. So the reverse is…"

As I said that last part, my gaze dropped to the ground. Dipper did the same. Mabel still didn't understand, but seeing our faces, she knew that it wasn't good. A short silence followed the hesitation. I didn't want to say it. It was as if that would just make it more real. I didn't want to do this, but I was going to have to. Since nobody else was willing to say it aloud, I was going to do it.

"The reverse is sadness, stress, and…"

I choked on the words again. I was already about to cry. As I said those words, Mabel began to understand, and we all new what was coming next.

"Sadness, stress, and hatred."

Complete silence followed. Nobody had anything else to say to that. Nobody even wanted to accept it as truth. Mabel tried to confirm what she'd just heard after a while, hoping for an answer that she hadn't expected.

"So, we need to make you sad, and then stressed. Then, we need to bring in someone you hate?"

Okay, so she was going to get an answer that she hadn't expected, but it still wasn't good. The twins were looking at me expectantly, desperately waiting for a less depressing answer than the truth.

"Well, no. That's the worst and hardest part. We have to find a way to make me hate Dipper. It won't work otherwise. Please don't ask why. I really don't want to talk about this. I just want to get it done."

I was looking down, trying to just be as strong as I could for the twins. I had messed up this mission really bad.

The twins were about to cry. It was so odd how only a one year age difference made such a contrast in how we handled this. Well, we also had different lifestyles. I had been trained to keep my cover, to keep my emotions in check so that nobody has to know that I have any.

I was opening my mouth to start discussing how we were planning to go about this, but then there was a knock at my bedroom door. The three of us looked at each other. Then I went to the door, and opened it. I had been expecting to see Stan or Ford at the door, trying to get Mabel into her room. All three of us were surprised at who it really was. Only I was able to express it, though.

"Pacifica! Why are you here? Did Stan let you in?"

Pacifica was standing at the door. She must have been looking for Dipper! _Omg! Did Dipcifica happen?_ That was all I could think. Then, I looked behind me, suddenly aware that nobody was hiding Dipper. I sighed as I realized that Mabel had taken over and was standing in front of the desk.

Pacifica couldn't see him, for now. Still, it was way too easy for her to walk over and see. Well, sadness was taken care of for obvious reasons. Stress was just introduced. The only thing was hatred. I couldn't hate him, could I? I thought so, until Pacifica actually opened her mouth.

"Yes, Stan let me in. Listen, new girl. I have known the Pines twins for a while now, and I can tell that Dipper must not really be missing. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he's in here now! Isn't that right, Dipper?"

After she said that, I was burning with rage. She was trying to take over my job or something! I really didn't like her. Then again, she was a reformed character on the show, wasn't she? Maybe she wouldn't be that bad?

The moment that I lost it was right then. When Dipper heard her, he came out from behind Mabel. He then told Pacifica everything! How could he just immediately trust her like that?

Just at that moment, a storm started. It wasn't a normal storm, as you might've already guessed. The storm was blue lightning, striking inside the Shack! I ran for cover underneath the bed, and motioned for Mabel and Pacifica to do the same. The two girls ran over to me, and took cover. Within seconds, I saw the lightning strike Dipper, and ran out to find out if it had worked.

Once I was out in the open again, the storm stopped. I saw Dipper, who was, to my relief, full-size. Nonetheless, he was unconscious. As soon as I made sure that it was completely safe, I motioned for Mabel and Pacifica to come out.

Then, Ford burst into the room, some kind of machinery that I can't even describe in hand, yelling.

"What's going on? What happened? More important, why are the only supernatural readings in Gravity Falls coming from this room?"

We all stared at him. How were we going to explain this?

A/N: Okay, so from now on, I'm going to update once or twice a week, rather than every day. It's more convenient for all of us. I hope you guys all keep reading for the next chapter, No Longer Secret!

Riddle: Something once lost will soon be found, a fight will be lost till the very last round. New evils will rise, old evils will die, and all of her secrets will be revealed in time.


	7. No Longer Secret

Chapter 7: No Longer Secret

-Rana POV-

I had to say something. It didn't matter what. I just decided on the truth. The only thing I had to keep secret was Bill's secret power over me. I didn't have to keep this one a secret. Plus, Ford already knew more about Bill than everyone else in the room, possibly excepting me.

"I somehow have all of the Gravity Falls weirdness inside of me! The supernatural readings aren't just in the room, they're in me! The reason that Dipper went missing was because I accidentally shrunk him. We spent the past day or so trying to bring him back. The only people that know about this are in this room. I'd like to keep it that way, okay?"

I held my breath, hoping that Ford would keep my secret. Dipper was still unconscious. Pacifica and Mabel were darting their eyes between Ford and I, still trying to figure out what was going on. Soon, Ford responded.

"Well, this isn't the weirdest thing I've seen in Gravity Falls, not even close. And it's your secret, unless you want to tell it, it's not mine to tell. I won't say a word, but if you need any help, I'll always be around."

I sighed with relief, and then smiled. I was going to be fine. He wasn't going to tell. Then, I suddenly realized that there were other problems arising. There was one other new person who knew my secret.

Pacifica. She was going to be a bigger problem. Okay, she wasn't a huge problem at all. She pretty much just wanted to be involved in the whole magic thing. So, it was basically blackmail, but really it was just one extra person in the club. As long as that didn't become one hundred or one thousand, it would be totally fine!

A few hours after the events that had started it all, I was sitting on my bed, alone for the first time since I'd gotten to Gravity Falls. I decided that it was time to call the agency and tell Mrs. Matthews how things were going. I hoped so much that she wouldn't be mad.

As the phone rang, I got more and more anxious. What would she say? Would she be disappointed? Would I get sent home? There were so many questions to be answered in this phone call. Soon, the ringing stopped and I heard Mrs. Matthews' voice.

"Hello? Rana? I heard about the incident in the clearing! Is everyone okay?"

I froze. I tried to tell her what happened but I choked on the words. Eventually, though, I found my voice and told her the whole story.

"…but now everything is totally fine, okay? Well, everything except the fact that you were right, and with a little help from the town, I'm channeling Bill's power! What am I supposed to do?"

There was a pause from the other side of the call. She must've been thinking. What if she was thinking about whether to send me home or not? What if she was just thinking of a way to tell me? I had to stay calm. This was professional. This was business. I needed to just get done with all of this. Once I had calmed down a little, as if on cue, she finally answered. Except she answered with a question.

"How many people know about this power?"

She really was good at this, wasn't she? I shouldn't have let all of those people know. This was jeopardizing the mission. She was going to fire me for sure when she found out the truth.

"Well, let's see. There's Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica, and Ford. I think that's it."

I was so worried after I told her this. It was only four people, but that's more than it should've been. It should've been none.

"Okay, fine. As long as it's nobody evil or anything, you should be okay. Just don't let any of them know the truth behind your visit, okay? It will put them all in danger."

I took a deep breath. She was handling this well! Still, I did have to be careful. No one was safe, everyone was dangerous. And if they weren't, they were in danger. They were in danger because they knew me. I was dangerous. I also needed to speak before it was found suspicious.

"I won't let anyone know why I'm here. Nobody hears a word."

I stared up at the wood ceiling, which was covered in lots of things that I could never explain without throwing up. I was just worried that things would get harder, or that someone might be listening. That didn't matter to Mrs. Matthews. She went on.

"And I've already heard about your first night. Nobody hears, Rana, not even Dipper."

I took an even deeper breath than before. Then, with sadness in my heart, but no way of knowing that from an outside viewpoint, I responded.

"Nobody hears. Not even Dipper. I understand."

As we ended the conversation and said our goodbyes and then hung up, I heard a noise outside my door. I put my phone down, and walked over, silent as possible. Then, I put my hand on the doorknob, and turned it. When I opened the door and saw what was outside, I nearly had a panic attack.

Dipper was standing outside, ear pressed against my door. He had been listening. By his expression, I could tell that even if he had not been listening the whole time, he had still heard enough. I still found the need to ask.

"How much did you hear?"

He looked at me. There was shock, terror, confusion, and even betrayal in his eyes. He seemed to struggle just to speak.

"I heard enough. I heard that you were keeping something from me. Keeping something from all of us! What are you hiding, Rana?"

I looked at him. I could see all of the shock and terror and confusion give way to complete betrayal. I then had the best and worst idea I'd ever thought of. I knew what to do. I just didn't want to do it. The first step was to vent. I started by telling him everything, from the agency to the full truth about Bill. When I was done, he took a while to respond.

"I'm so sorry. That's awful. But I guess I need to thank you."

I sighed. At this point, I was almost crying. I knew how this had to end, but I didn't know how to do it.

"No. You don't need to be sorry, I do. And you don't need to thank me, you really don't."

I looked over to the item that had magically appeared on the floor next to me. And when I say magically, I mean literal magic brought it there. I was getting good at making it less noticeable, especially with small things like this. Still, no matter how good I was getting at making a random/not-so-random object appear, this was going to be hard.

I noticed his face become confused again, and I decided it was time to just end this. I picked up the object, and pointed it directly at Dipper. No. It was not a gun. It was a memory eraser. I had to erase his memory of everything that had just happened. He couldn't know.

He was staring at me with that betrayal in his eyes again. I could also see a hint of confusion in his expression. I was in tears. He spoke, in a shaky voice that I'd only ever heard him use when he had found out about Stan's portal for the first time. Back when all that Gravity Falls could be was a TV show.

"What's going on? Rana, you don't have to do this! Why do you even want to?"

Then, as he finished that last sentence, his expression darkened. He had figured it out. Well, he had figured something out. I wasn't sure what he was thinking until he brought it to words.

"Or maybe this was always the plan, maybe you were planning to do something even worse the whole time! You never wanted us to be happy, you only kept all those secrets from us so that you could hurt us!"

His confusion turned into sadness, and then to anger, and then to full-fledged fury. He had it all wrong! But that didn't matter, because soon, he wouldn't even have any idea that I wasn't who he thought I was. I could say whatever I wanted, because he wouldn't remember afterward.

"No! You're wrong! I cared about the both of you immediately! Why do you think I told you all of this? Why do you think that Mrs. Matthews would even be worried that I would tell you on purpose? I just couldn't let you in on anything, for your own safety!"

Once I had finished saying that, I was breathing so incredibly heavily. Dipper's expression was a little bit lighter for a second, but then he seemed to dismiss the thought that I might be telling the truth.

"No! You're lying! You've been lying to me this whole time! I'll never trust another word you say, ever again! I'll tell everyone, and I'll get Bill out of you and defeat him myself. The only thing I will ever do for you is defeat Bill. Nothing more."

I was sobbing so much that I could've sworn that there would be a flood within minutes. It was a wonder that my magic wasn't swirling out of control, yet! Not yet. I would lose control soon, so I needed to just get this finished.

"Listen, I can get rid of Bill alone. Anyways you won't be telling anyone about this, and I am so very sorry. You just can't know yet. You don't know me well enough to trust me. And I will be sent home or worse if Mrs. Matthews finds out that you ever knew. I am so sorry, I really am. I really do love you. And I love Mabel like she's my sister. The problem is, you won't remember me telling you this in a few seconds."

My tears were flowing at a quickening pace. I was getting ready to erase his memory, but instead of pressing the button, I let the object melt into my hand, so that I could use the power myself. I couldn't have evidence afterwards for him to follow. He said a few last words, both of us in tears. My tears of sadness, and his tears of anger.

"I will find a way to get my memory back. I will figure it out again! I won't let you stay in Gravity Falls!"

As I channeled all of the magical energy throughout my body, tears streaming down my face, and got ready to erase his memory, I said one last thing to him, knowing that he wouldn't remember later.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry. But you won't stop me, you won't remember, you won't keep me away."

With that, I closed my eyes and looked away, and took away his memories of the past hour that we had been talking. Then I dropped to the ground, weakened.

Immediately after that, Mabel walked into the room. _This family has no manners at all!_ I only had a few seconds to stand up straight and pretend that everything was fine. Dipper had just recovered too, so I was going to be fine. I sighed with relief that everything was over.

Then, I realized it really wasn't over. It wasn't even nearly over. Mabel and Dipper's eyes went wide, and I saw a blue fire surround me. The uncontrolled magic was simply delayed. I had no idea what was coming next, but as long as both of the twins trusted me again, it was all going to be okay. It was all going to be okay.

A/N: This chapter went way differently than expected, huh? I guess I'm just following in the footsteps of Gravity Falls itself. Do you guys like my new update schedule? I hope so, because it's much easier to do. I can't wait for the next chapter, More Than Expected.

Riddle: A memory gained was lost so soon. Each memory lost will bring one more new. All that's been lost will soon be found. Families, memories, and the horrible past surround.


	8. More Than Expected

A/N: Quick thing, whenever I have indented full sentences in quotations, that is Bill speaking to Rana. Only Rana can hear it, because he's speaking to her in her mind.

Chapter 8: More Than Expected

-Rana POV-

I looked around my room, I had just finally gotten up after being thrown to the floor by the powerful uncontrolled magic that I had just set free. The room was dusty, and it seemed much more used, but less at the same time. How long had I been out? Mabel and Dipper were gone, and I was just left to figure out what the heck had happened!

Then, Ford walked into the room, and jumped onto the bed. I was standing in the middle of the room, staring at him. The thing is, he wasn't looking back! He was staring out the window, seemingly unaware of my existence! I got a little bit angry, so I yelled at him. What? I had just gotten finished with the weirdest day ever, what did you expect? Puppies and rainbows?

"Excuse me? What are you doing in my bed? I expect a good answer!"

He was laying down, now. I guess a good reason would've been that it was technically his room, but he still gave it to me, and it was rude to just take it back and ignore me! It was clear, though, that he wasn't planning to answer me at all any time soon, so I left to go find Dipper or Mabel.

Then, I suddenly realized one of the biggest differences in the bedroom. My sheets had been replaced with some green ones. There were no more curtains on the windows. Worst of all, my bags and all of my things were just gone. I broke into a run. Whatever was going on, Dipper would probably know how to fix it. At least I hoped he would.

As I ran into Dipper and Mabel's room, I came to a clumsy halt. The twins were chatting on their beds. They took no notice of me. When they came to a pause in their conversation about Mabel's newest summer romance, I broke in.

"Hey! Guys, something's seriously wrong. Ford took over my room, and all my stuff is missing!"

They simply started talking about something else, and still didn't even acknowledge me. I held my breath, and walked towards the gap between their beds, ever so slowly. Once I had finally gotten directly between them, I waved my hands right in front of each of their faces in turn, just to confirm what I was already dreading. And I was rightly terrified, because neither one of them even budged.

I let my breath go, finally. I just accepted what must've been happening. Okay, I didn't just accept it, I yelled and screamed in their faces a bit more first, just in case. Still, neither one flinched. I blankly stared out the triangle-shaped window, and thought through the current situation. Nobody seemed to be able to see or hear me, my stuff was gone, and it was replaced with Ford's stuff. So maybe I was just not a thing in Gravity Falls anymore?

Maybe I had made it so that I had never been to Gravity Falls! This couldn't be good. Just to be sure that nobody could even sense me, I put my hand on Mabel's shoulder. She looked down at her shoulder, and at my hand, but otherwise didn't acknowledge me. So that meant that she could at least feel my hand, just not very much. Maybe my hand didn't feel as heavy as a hand, just kind of like she might be imagining things.

That could have been my way out of this, but before I tried to contact them, I had to figure out exactly what I had done. Then it hit me, the words I had said right when it all started. I whispered them aloud as they smacked me in the face.

"I might randomly wipe someone out of existence!"

Oh no. I had wiped myself out of existence. All memory of who I was had completely disappeared. While I did successfully erase Dipper's memory of everything I had done, I also erased the whole town's memory of me as a whole. Another idea came to mind. If I was erased from existence, wasn't Bill gone too?

 _"_ _Yes, half note, you erased the both of us from existence. Happy now?"_

I jumped a little. It had actually been a while since Bill had spoken to me. Anyways, since I couldn't be heard, I answered aloud. I was confused about a few things, too. I was planning to clear them up.

"Bill! Of course I'm not happy, and I'm sad to say that you and I are both going to have to find a way back into the world, one way or another."

I heard him laugh maniacally, and then I thought of a horrible idea. I hated it, and loved it at the same time. I still had to say it, though I didn't have to say it aloud. I was going to do something so crazy that even Bill didn't consider I might do it.

I was going to do nothing. I was going to leave myself outside of existence. I was going to be stuck in Gravity Falls, with nobody to talk to except Bill. Some of my friends were going to be missed, but they weren't capable of missing me. And when Bill heard that idea, he was outraged.

 _"_ _NO! You can't do that! You need to be with your friends! No human can survive alone! You won't be able to do it!"_

I suddenly smiled. I was amused at his anger, and I was almost terrified at how fast I'd gotten to that point. Then, I asked him one last question, since he was the only one left to talk to.

"Wait a minute. When did you start calling me half note anyways, triangle?"

His voice got even less sane than usual, and, unexpectedly, he answered my question. Still, he answered with a stupid prophecy, partly.

 _"_ _When you became a part of a prophecy, half note, that's when! The eight will come together one last time, and it will be the end of mine, and one new note will make it nine. Too bad you won't be there to do anything!"_

I was a little surprised. There was a prophecy about me in Gravity Falls! I was supposed to help the eight on the Cipher wheel defeat him! I remembered theorizing about what the wheel meant, way back when. I remembered thinking that it could be some kind of prophecy, and seeing others talking about how they thought the same. I didn't think that it would actually turn out that way!

I ended up just shrugging. He wasn't going to get in my way. He knew I wasn't actually that confident, but I didn't care. I was more convincing myself than anything else.

I decided that I could keep in contact with the twins at least without doing anything bad. I grabbed a pen and paper out of Ford's study, and I wrote down a few words to my friends.

"Dipper and Mabel, I know that it sounds crazy, but I am basically a ghost. I'm not bad. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just a ghost. I did this to myself really. I can't be seen or heard, but I can sort of be felt, and I can apparently still touch, so I can write, just not speak. I want you to meet me in your room after breakfast, and just sit on your beds and speak towards the gap between you. I will answer all questions in another letter. Sincerely, your ghost friend, Rana."

I guess my senses were all fine, everyone else just couldn't really sense me. When they felt me, it was kind of as more of a presence than a person. I could write just fine, and I could touch things. I could keep in touch with everyone I needed to and never go back to normal, and I was planning to do just that.

A few minutes later, I put the letter inside the cover of the copy of Journal 3 that Dipper had found. No, it wasn't the ones Stan made. Ford just made sure to have a few copies made once he had gotten home from the trip through the portal. He was an intelligent person, after all.

I saw Dipper find the letter, and call Mabel over. They frantically read through the letter, and then Dipper spoke, obviously a little freaked out.

"Do you think we should listen? I mean, if it's a ghost, it's probably not a good thing to answer, right?"

Mabel looked a little bit hesitant to agree about the cautious idea, but also a little terrified of talking to a ghost.

"I don't know, Dipper. What if this really is just a nice girl who wants some friends? I mean, she could be evil, but we could fight back if she tried to hurt us, right? We've beat a lot of things before! Anyways, what kind of evil demon creature thingy writes in pink pen, and dots it's i's with hearts?"

Dipper looked like he might be swaying, but I wasn't sure. I definitely knew what he was thinking once he answered, though, and it was kind of insulting.

"A creature that's trying to lure us into a false sense of safety, that's what, Mabel! And we don't even know anything for sure about it. It might not be a girl, or friendly, or peaceful. We haven't met it, have we?"

That was definitely insulting. He kept on calling me a thing! Well, he was definitely going to get a few ghost pranks during the next few weeks or forever! In my anger, I grabbed the pen, and wrote a little bit more on the page, after ripping it out of Dipper's hands of course. I got a terrified look from him and a shocked look from Mabel at that, and I didn't blame them.

"That's insulting, Dipper. I am definitely a girl, and you have definitely met me, you just don't think you have. It's all very confusing, but since we've got this fabulous conversation going, why don't we just do this now, huh? Mabel, thank you! At least you have some respect! Teach your brother some manners, okay? Without me, he's a huge wreck! I would explain everything, but I don't know where to start, so any questions?"

The two of them were staring at me and the paper like they had seen a ghost. Well, they had seen a ghost writing a letter to them. After staring at me in awe, without intending to stare at me, Dipper spoke again.

"You were here for all that? Wow, uh, sorry, I guess. Promise you won't kill us or anything?"

I rolled my eyes, and so did Mabel. I wrote, and she spoke at the same time. He wasn't paying attention to my writing since he was listening to Mabel speak, so he didn't notice that it was nearly the exact same thing. I wrote.

"Dipper, if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it by now, idiot!"

At the same time, Mabel said this.

"Dipper, if she wanted to kill us, she would've done it by now, stupid head!"

So we used different wording, but said the same thing. When she was done speaking, she looked at the letter that I was holding out, and smiled a huge Mabel smile, and gave it to Dipper. Once he had finished reading, she held up her hand and spoke.

"Hey, we thought the same thing, soul sisters! High five!"

I hit my hand against hers, and saw her make a face that looked a bit like sympathy. That was definitely one thing she could do better than her brother.

"That was your hand, wasn't it? That's so sad! All that you can actually do is that much? You couldn't have killed us if you tried!"

I made a sad smile. It was true. I couldn't have. Not for the reason that she had stated, but because I couldn't do that to them.

Dipper had his hand held out, seemingly waiting to feel whatever his sister was talking about. So I just put my hand into his, and he closed his hand around mine. He could feel me enough to do that! There was some kind of special bond or something!

A second later, I realized he was looking at me with an even more terrified look on his face than before. He spoke his fears, though he was barely able to.

"Mabel, when she touched you, did you see her too?"

My heart stopped for a second. He had seen me? No. It wasn't possible! It couldn't be! My eyes went wide. She shook her head, she couldn't see me. Nonetheless, he could. I didn't think it was real, so I made sure.

"You can see me? That shouldn't be possible! It was a wonder you could even really truly feel me!"

His eyes went just as wide as mine. He had heard me. He heard me, too! This was amazing!

"You heard me too? That's great! I can't believe this! How is this possible?"

He started to ease up and smile a little. He looked down at our hands, and then spoke his thoughts.

"Maybe there's some kind of special connection? It only seems to happen when we touch, so maybe…"

I picked up on his thought process, immediately.

"Yes! And maybe if we get in a circle with someone in between us, they can see me too! Tell Mabel to come hold your hand, then mine!"

He nodded his agreement, and got Mabel to come form a circle with us. Once we were in formation, she gasped.

"I can see you! I can see you perfectly! Okay, now that I can see you and hear you and feel you and everything, can we ask a few questions?"

I smiled at them.

"Of course!"

They looked at each other and then back at me. Then Dipper got straight to asking.

"What did you mean by 'you've met me but you just don't think you have'? What did you mean when you told us that it was your fault that you're a ghost?"

I sighed. This was going to be a long story.

"Well, I was actually your best friend. I kind of drained all of the Gravity Falls weirdness and accidentally took it into myself. Then, we had an adventure or two, but long story short, I couldn't completely control my new powers. So, one day, I was trying to use them, and I accidentally wiped myself out of existence! Now, Ford has my room, my stuff is all gone, and only the two of you even know that I ever existed! Also, Dipper, we may have been a little more than friends, just saying."

What? I couldn't put that in there? I was already a ghost with only Bill to actually talk to without wasting energy. Oh. That's another thing I didn't mention. It wasn't just a special connection. The two of us did have one, but the both of us had to use power to make it work. He just didn't notice, because the power that he had was still buried, hidden, and frankly, less than mine.

The twins were staring at me. They couldn't believe what they'd just heard. I honestly couldn't blame them. I probably would have thrown me in a mental hospital about ten minutes ago. Even though they still had no idea what was going on, Mabel still spoke.

"So you and him were a thing?"

She was smiling like a Mabel does when she just found out about any kind of hidden romance. I just smiled back and nodded, and gave a little "kind of' gesture. Then Dipper spoke.

"Well, I guess I can kind of understand that story. I mean, this is Gravity Falls, right? Still, why am I the only one that can make you visible?"

Then, I thought about something sort of terrifying. I realized that everything might not be exactly what I thought it was.

"I have a bit of a theory about something. You and I have a stronger connection than Mabel and I, yes, but it might only be Mabel who can see me once you've helped."

The two of them looked at me like I might've actually been insane. Dipper asked a question.

"Are you hearing what you're saying?"

I smiled. I nodded, and I gave my most confident pose I could make while still holding both of their hands.

"Of course I am! I'm trying to make sense, really, it's the situation that's the problem. Now, we need to get Pacifica over here, right away, I have a plan."

A/N: Wow, I just kind of went crazy with this one, didn't I? This is getting intense! I didn't have as suspenseful a cliffhanger as I'd hoped, though. Oh well, you guys probably hate me for those cliffhangers anyways. I am so happy to say that the next chapter is going to be just as good or better than this one, and it is going to be called, A New Way of Life.

Riddle: The half note will become a whole one day, and that day could be near or far away. Many secrets unfold when the half becomes whole, when the day of her death is today.


	9. A New Way of Life

A/N: Sorry for the wait, everyone! I was sick, and I kept on trying to write, but it wasn't the best idea. Let's hope the chapter is worth the wait!

Chapter 9: A New Way of Life

-Rana POV-

Pacifica walked into the twins' room, and the three of us once again had to explain and prove my situation. Once Pacifica semi-understood what was going on, she formed a circle with Dipper and I to see if we could make her see me. She shook her head.

"Sorry, I feel a little pressure on my hand, but I don't see anything."

I glared at the floor. This meant I was right. When I did this to myself, the physical version of Gravity Falls gave my powers to Mabel, because the physical world's version of my powers had to go someplace, and at the time, Mabel was the nearest option. Dipper, on the other hand, he had these powers for a different reason.

He wasn't going to get to know it, but he had absorbed some of the power for himself when he touched the fire, saving my life, back when all this started. He had always been at least a little powerful, and that's why his link was so much stronger, his powers were from the same place as mine. Well, sort of.

I explained this to the twins, and had them translate to Pacifica, as well as I could. Once I had finished, they all stared at me, except Pacifica, who didn't have any idea where I was. I had also explained one other catch to this realization.

I couldn't affect the real world, not even with my powers.

Even if I had wanted to undo what I had done, I couldn't, they would have to reverse it for me. Dipper and Mabel had my life in their hands. The problem was, they would be able to bring me back, but I didn't want them to.

Now that they knew the whole story, they obviously were thinking what I had feared they would. They were slowly realizing that they had the power to bring me back. The two of them were planning ways to undo what I had done. They cared about me, they wanted to save me, but saving me would bring back an evil that was better off forgotten.

Mabel and Dipper both tried to speak out their idea at the same time. Mabel's voice overpowered Dipper's, obviously, so he just stopped talking and let her explain. And she explained it with a lot of enthusiasm, and tons of power.

"So that means that we could bring you back, then! You don't have to stay this way, we could save you! Wait. How do we do that, exactly?"

The three of them turned towards me, eagerly awaiting my answer. Okay, Dipper and Mabel did, while Pacifica awkwardly tried to find wherever the two of them were looking.

I sighed. I wanted to let them do this so much. The thing is, I was going to destroy the town, or maybe the world, if I came back. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it!

I suddenly burst into tears and ran away, towards who knows where. I guess it was partly the stress, and partly the despair. There was so much I was going to lose by running away, but I was going to save so many lives!

I didn't know where I was running, so maybe it was partly Bill sending me somewhere, or maybe it was just instinct. Yes. It was instinct.

When I stopped, I looked around to see where I was. This was the clearing where everything started. This was the clearing where I got my powers.

I stopped, sat down, and continued sobbing underneath a large pine tree that had grown since that horrible yet amazing night, it was right in the middle of the clearing, where the crystals had been. I didn't stop to wonder why there was a tree that had grown so tall, and just since a few days ago. I just sat down, and cried. There was nothing that could get me to stop anymore.

I was forever alone.

I was forever a ghost.

In a world where the supernatural is just normal.

The only thing that nobody can ever see.

Alone.

-Mabel POV-

I had powers! Yay! And I was going to save Rana! This was turning into the coolest monster hunt the mystery twins have ever faced! I waited for Rana's answer, but then I saw Dipper's face get scared. Oh no! I don't like scared! It got even worse when Dipper explained what was going on.

"She just let go of my hand! I think she's running! What do we do?"

I looked at him like he was crazy. It was obvious what to do, right? Wasn't it?

"Are you serious? We've gotta go find her! She's out there, sad and alone, somewhere! I can't just stand here and do nothing! Even if we can't see her, we can still find her, right? We have powers! We can just magically find her, can't we?"

Pacifica looked at me for a while, and then she nodded. She agreed. Honestly, how could anyone not? Dipper, apparently, almost found a way. That didn't matter, though, because he ended up agreeing, and we got together and tried to figure out how to find her. Dipper, though, instead of just trusting his gut, asked how he was supposed to do magic. My answer was a little less cheery than it was meant to be.

"Dipper, all we need to do is focus on finding Rana, probably hold hands or something, and we'll find her! I don't know how I know this, I just do. Let's go! We need to hurry!"

We grabbed hands and focused. I gave him the happiest, most reassuring smile I could form, and then the pain started. It felt like I had been running for a long time, paired with that feeling after you've been crying uncontrollably for so long you don't even remember.

Then I saw a forest. There were trees and grass, and….

"I know this place!"

I screamed. I knew where she was! She was in the clearing where the shrinking crystals had suddenly disappeared! I dragged Dipper and called to Pacifica to follow me. We were going to find Rana.

Once we got there, Dipper pointed out a small dent in the grass and flowers, right by a huge pine tree that probably shouldn't have been there. This had to be Rana. Dipper and I each took one of Rana's hands, still holding each other's, and she became visible to us.

She was apparently not as happy to see us as I expected.

-Rana POV-

They had come and found me! Ugh! This was not supposed to happen! Nonetheless, I still had to speak to them, now. Dipper asked why I ran away. I simply pulled my hand away from each of them, and continued to cry. Okay, I didn't have to speak to them, that just would've been the mature option.

Eventually they walked off and started a group huddle, or something. They were obviously planning something, but I didn't care. Whatever they did, I would just let it happen. I wasn't going to try anymore, no trying, just crying. I was just done.

-Dipper POV-

She wasn't having it. We weren't going to get to talk to her, so we were going to bring her back without her permission. We talked about it for awhile, and then we just walked over to Rana, and tried to do something.

Mabel and I grabbed hands, and focused as hard as possible on Rana, but real. We focused as hard as we could, and eventually, I felt my feet lift off of the ground, and heard Pacifica gasp. I opened my eyes, and saw that Mabel and I were floating in a circle of fire. There was a problem with this fire, though. I was starting to remember a fire that was related to this magic. It was blue.

This fire was not blue, it was the normal color of fire. It was blazing just as hard, but it wasn't blue. There must have been a difference between our magic and hers. I guess that must have been it.

I looked down at Rana. She was slowly starting to appear. She was sort of flickering. On and off, on and off, and she was like a ghost when she was visible. As the time went on, she seemed to gain color, reality, to her form. She was becoming real again! I thought about her, trying to see if any memories would come back, and I saw one little scene, but it's so blurry, so unreal, I don't even know if I could describe it.

I saw Rana look up at us in horror, and then looked around as everyone else blacked out, and soon, so did I.

-Rana POV-

I looked around. Everything was normal again, I was in my bedroom. I ran to the attic to find the twins.

When I found the two of them, just waking up, also in their own beds, but obviously knowing what had just happened. They looked at me with grins on their faces, but I had other ideas on what was going on. I wasn't going to hurt them, they had saved me, but they weren't just getting away with what they had just done.

"Do you two know what you just did?"

They looked at me, more confused than I had ever seen them, and that's saying a lot. I mean, a few hours ago I told them that they had magical powers to bring me back from being a forgotten ghost.

Dipper was the first to voice his confusion.

"Um, I'm pretty sure we saved your life? Why would you be angry about that?"

I sighed. They didn't know, they didn't need to know, they weren't going to know. So then, I smiled.

"Sorry, never mind. Thank you. Oh, by the way. You two probably won't have magic anymore, and nobody else should remember what just happened besides the three of us, so no talking about it. Okay?"

They nodded, smiling again, if still a little bit confused.

Then, something dawned on me. Actually, I think it dawned on all of us at the same time.

We all suddenly remembered the big pine tree in the middle of the clearing.

The one that wasn't supposed to be there.

We ran to the clearing as fast as our feet would carry us.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! This chapter was definitely different. It was definitely full of information. Sorry if it all went too fast for everyone! There was just so much information that needed to make it into the chapter! You guys can keep up, right? Can't wait for the next chapter, The Tree of Prophecy.

Riddle: One's magic may leave, another's may stay. Yet, all who had magic have a price they must pay.


	10. The Tree of Prophecy

Chapter 10: The Tree of Prophecy

-Rana POV-

I gasped for air. I hadn't stopped running until I got to the clearing. The tree was just as big and obvious as it had been the day before, but this time, it felt even more so. We didn't take the time to notice it then.

Actually, time had reset after the twins used their magic, so technically it _was_ the day before.

I looked up at the huge tree, from right underneath it, able to touch it if I wanted to. Dipper and Mabel were staring from behind.

" _Oh, it looks like you've got more than one prophecy on your hands, now doesn't it?"_

I jumped. Why did Bill have to keep doing that? But it did get me thinking. And then I found the answer. I had one more prophecy to deal with now, he was right! The one huge piece of evidence for this, which put everything in perspective, was the gigantic circle surrounding the base of the tree, with a line poking out, pointing away from the Mystery Shack.

Yes, it was a half note. I looked down at it, and backed away. I knew that this meant something. I just wasn't positive what it was, yet.

Mabel finally expressed her confusion as to what was happening.

"Rana, what's going on? How long has this tree been here? And what's with the weird circle thingy around it?"

Dipper and I exchanged a glance. We both knew that the tree couldn't have been here for more than a day or so. It must have grown after we left to go back to the Shack on the first night! And the half note, well only I had any knowledge of what that meant, and I guessed I would have to tell them. I would at least tell them as much of the story as I could.

"The tree can't have been here any longer than a day or two. And the circle?"

I looked over my shoulder at the two, before turning to face them. I could tell that they were worried about how serious I was.

"The circle is a half note. It represents me. This would be because when I'm not trying to keep myself from getting killed…"

I rolled my eyes, reminding myself of the fact that trying not to get killed is almost a hobby for me. At some point during the eye roll, I had started smiling.

"I might sing a little bit."

What? Did you think I wouldn't have a hobby? What am I supposed to do when I get bored, besides narrowly avoid death? Narrowly avoid more death? I'm still human, aren't I? Aren't I?

Anyways, Mabel's usual smile got even brighter and her eyes widened.

"You sing? Show me, show me!"

She was talking like a child! Ugh! This was not the point I was trying to get at. Nonetheless, I didn't want to fight her, so I sang a quick scale.

"There. Are you happy now? You missed the whole point! The point is the whole meaning of this. It's some kind of prophecy! The tree represents Dipper. You know how Bill calls him pine tree? This is why! We're all a part of so much more than even what we thought last summer!"

They were staring at me with grim looks on their faces. They were probably remembering when they tried to defeat Bill Cipher. I mean, one of the many times when they tried to defeat him. Dipper spoke with a blank expression on his face.

"What does it mean, then? And do you think the stem of the half note is pointing somewhere?"

I stared down at the stem of the note that he talked about. It did seem to be pointing somewhere! I got right to thinking it through, aloud.

"You're right about the stem pointing somewhere! I don't think we should check it out, yet, though. We need to prepare first. Also, about the meaning, I only have a bit of that answer, but here it is. I think Bill can't be defeated this time as easily. Only the two of us can defeat him. And it has to be the both of us, for some reason."

It sounded so much more confusing aloud. The twins didn't even know what to say to my thoughts on the prophecy. So what we did was go back to the Shack so we could get the materials to go looking for whatever the stem was pointing us towards. We might not have known yet what the prophecy meant, but we were going to find out what it wanted us to know.

When we got back to the Shack, nobody had anything to say, so we silently gathered a few flashlights, water bottles, and other necessities. We didn't need to pack weapons, because we were fairly sure that if I needed to, I could use my powers on anything that attacked. And if I couldn't, we would run.

Once we had finished preparing, we met up in their room and went out to the forest. It was time to find out what was actually happening. We didn't care how late it was. We didn't even care about reason. We were just going to stay the night in the woods if we had to.

Within a half hour or so, we reached the clearing. The moon was already high up in the sky. It was almost eerie how the moonlight illuminated the tree and the half note. It looked so much more like a prophecy. I looked up towards the moon and the tip of the tree. Then I looked back towards the twins, who were right behind me, letting me lead.

I motioned for them to come along, and started walking towards the unknown. Nothing was known anymore, after I changed Gravity Falls completely. There was something out there, way off in the distance. I could see it, but I kept walking. Whatever was out there, we could face it, the three of us. I looked to my sides, where the twins were now, and smiled. Yes. We could face anything.

A/N: Well, this was interesting. Nobody knows what will be found in the depths of the forest of Gravity Falls. Sorry about the pace of the past few chapters. I need to get all of the information in, and I still need to keep things interesting. I hope I'm doing the show justice! And about the riddle, this is going to be short, and possibly confusing, but it has the potential to be the biggest clue you get up until the big reveal towards the biggest secret that Rana has. That said, here you go. And make sure to keep reading for The Power of Three.

Riddle: Aren't I?


	11. The Power of Three

Chapter 11: The Power of Three

-Rana POV-

I could sense that there was something ahead. And it wasn't going to be good. That didn't matter, though. I needed to keep on going. There was nothing that was going to stop me. If I didn't find out what the stem of the half note was pointing towards, I would probably go crazy or something!

I suddenly felt an intense wave of fear surge over me. I still had no idea what it was up ahead. It could've been a trap, set to capture me and set Bill free. I took a deep breath, pushed away the fear, and grabbed Dipper's left hand and Mabel's right.

"Whatever we find in there, we can face it, right guys?"

I sounded so much less confident than I meant to. They didn't seem to be very confident, either. We were all grateful for the reassurance of each other's fingers interlaced with our own. No matter how terrified we all were of what we would found out there, the two of them nodded and we continued our hike to who-knows-where.

We were all silent for the most part with a little bit of conversation about whatever was out there in the woods. All the way until midnight we just walked, nobody complained about being tired, nobody stopped for a break, we just kept on going. But then, at midnight, we all felt like we needed a rest.

We stopped, put down the bags that we all were holding, and pulled out our water bottles. We sat down by a tree, and stayed there for about 5 minutes, before a bright golden light began to emanate from the area where I had seen something earlier. At this point, that area was only a few minutes away, and the three of us were all ready to get up and go. And we were definitely going straight toward the light.

We didn't have any idea what it was, but we knew it was special, it was different, it was exactly what we were looking for.

The thing is, as we got closer, I started hearing this awful sound. At first, I thought it was just my stress getting to me. But then, it became unbearable, it sounded like a scream. It wasn't just any scream, though. It sounded murderous, like you'd hear in a horror movie.

But there was one other noise, buried under the screams and the wind around me. This noise was much more familiar, from many times hearing it at home, and even a few times here.

The laugh of an evil maniac, namely, Bill Cipher. He was in my head, laughing about something that was about to happen. I suddenly knew that it wasn't going to be a good idea to keep going, but I could no longer stop. Bill was driving me towards the light, and even though I now knew how bad this was going to be, I couldn't resist it. I couldn't even show emotion anymore. Suddenly, I realized that I had no control left. Bill had complete control over my body!

I wanted to scream, but nothing came out, my mouth wouldn't even open. I saw through my peripheral vision that Dipper was looking at me like he could tell something was wrong. _Yes!_ If he figured out what was going on, he might be able to drag us away from the light!

When I began to focus ahead of me, again, I suddenly realized what the light was coming from. It was only about 10 feet away now. And it was horrifying. All I could see anymore was a fifty-foot pyramid, with an eye in the middle, and a top hat at its tip. It was a giant Bill Cipher statue! And it was glowing gold! We were doomed!

Dipper suddenly turned away from the statue, so close to it now that he could touch it if he wanted to. Mabel had turned away, too. They had both realized in the same instant what the statue looked like. They had both suddenly realized that it was Bill. They started running, expecting me to come with them. I tried, but I simply couldn't move away from the statue.

I began to float. The fire that always seemed to envelope me when I was using my powers was appearing. I suddenly felt as if I was no longer really fully inside my body, and realized that Bill was trying to get rid of me. And not by killing me, but by sending me into the statue. Who knew how many were trapped in there?

This wasn't something I could get out of. At least, I couldn't get out of this on my own. Just as I was giving up hope, I heard voices, yelling, from down below.

"No! Bill, you can't take her away from us!"

It was Dipper, and I could hear his voice getting shakier and shakier, as he began to float in the air, becoming surrounded by the same blue flame that was surrounding me. I couldn't physically see it happen, I just kind of knew.

Within seconds, the blue fire was aiming towards me. I was now consumed by the fire from him and my own. Then, I was suddenly freed, and I dropped to the ground. The last thing I heard was Mabel's screams as she realized that the only two people with her were lying on the ground. We were both lying there, unable to move. She didn't know what to do.

Luckily, it turned out that Dipper had already been out for a bit, and just as I blacked out, I heard Dipper groan as Mabel screamed. _Good._ He was awake. As long as they were both awake, they would both be fine, I didn't matter, only them. Only them.

* * *

A few hours later, I woke up in Dipper and Mabel's room, still a little disoriented. I stood up next to Dipper's bed, where I had been laying moments before. Dipper had been sleeping on the floor. I was trying to leave when Dipper sat up and started whispering.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I winced. I hadn't wanted anybody to notice me going back to my room. Nonetheless, I nodded. He didn't need to know how much of a lie that was. I smiled as he got back up onto his bed.

"What happened back there? After we reached the statue-pyramid thingy, I couldn't tell what was going on."

He looked down at the floor and half-smiled. I guessed it must have been bad, but exciting at the same time. I think we were all used to that feeling by then.

"Not much. I apparently still have some magic, though. I got angry when I figured out that Bill was trying to take you, and I just kind of freed you. It didn't really register that I was using magic, I just did it. I couldn't let you die. I knew that was what he was going to do to you. I wouldn't let him."

He was blushing. I was, too. Both of us were smiling. We let the silence last too long, and someone had to say something, so I came up with another question.

"What about Mabel? She played some part in all this, right?"

He looked at me, thoughtfully. I smiled at him, trying to lighten the mood that was getting way to dark for the conversation. Soon, he had an answer.

"She was the one who pointed out the fact that you weren't there. She's the reason we made it back to you in time. She's the reason you're still here. She saved you."

I smiled, then looked over to Mabel's sleeping form. I really did have the greatest friends, didn't I? There was nobody else in that world that would have been able to do what they did. They were so amazing.

"No, the both of you saved me. You worked together, and with the three of us working as a team, we've uncovered at least one secret of our little prophecy."

He looked at me, slightly curious about what I meant. I then changed my expression from reassuring to serious.

"It's not just the two of us, it's the three of us. She's a part of things, just not in the same way the two of us are. We are definitely something special."

As I said this, I did the one thing that I really feared after I had gotten to Gravity Falls. I kissed him. I kissed Dipper. I was just as surprised as he was, but neither of us pulled away. Deep down, I knew we would never last, this was only a mission, but I didn't want to think about that. When we broke apart, I tried to act like that was totally normal, and I spoke a few last words before I went to my bedroom.

"But she's a whole different kind of special. She's special all on her own."

I smiled, and I went to bed, glad that I could finally get some rest, even though it was already six. The sun was already rising, and I was going to have a whole new day ahead of me within two hours or so, but I could at least rest for a while. Then, we would have another day of discoveries.

Still, as I drifted off into sleep, I could already sense a deep discomfort, as if my magic was already stirring around inside, ready to act up later, and ruin another day, or maybe save it. I didn't know yet, and I really didn't care. I had the two best friends in my current world, there was nothing that could ruin this.

A/N: Okay, you guys all knew already that there was going to be some romance in this, so no complaining! I am so ready for the next few chapters. I'm pretty sure this story is about to come to an end, but that doesn't mean that Rana won't be back. She will most definitely be back. Can't wait for the next chapter, which will hopefully come quickly, Mysteries of the Pine Tree. Please review and tell me how you think I'm doing, it really helps! Also tell me what you think the prophecy means, or what you think the riddles mean, I'd love to see what you're finding out!

Riddle: Three summers. One feels like forever. The second cut short. The third is disaster.


	12. Mysteries of the Pine Tree

A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been really busy. By the way, there won't be another chapter for another week, because I'm going to be out of town. Sorry again!

Chapter 12: Mysteries of the Pine Tree

-Rana POV-

Mrs. Matthews was standing in front of me. She seemed mad. I didn't know where I was, or how I was there. I couldn't question it, though, because I just didn't have the time. Mrs. Matthews was already talking, and it wasn't good.

"Rana, I know you've already told Dipper about everything. I also know that you've let Bill take control. You are unfit to be an agent. We're bringing you home. You're fired."

I froze. This was the one thing that I'd been trying to avoid since I arrived in Gravity Falls! I mean, that and death. Anyways, I was terrified! I knew that I would be in trouble if she found out all of this, but I didn't think that she would fire me! There was nothing else I could do!

I suddenly realized there was something wrong with the place we were in. This wasn't a room, and we weren't outside, everything was just black. Then, Mrs. Matthews' eyes started glowing yellow, and she morphed into, you guessed it, everyone's least favorite demon pyramid, Bill Cipher. I instinctively clenched my fist.

"Bill! What did you just do?"

He began to laugh hysterically. He looked me right in the eye, and he began to speak, well, it was more like screaming.

 _"_ _Oh, don't worry, half note! You're only dreaming! You're not actually fired, but you're getting close! You might not want to make any more mistakes! Like, I don't know, getting up before everyone else and doing something horrible to one of your little friends in your sleep? Anyways, I'll see you later, half note! Things are gonna get bad!"_

All in the same moment, Bill disappeared and I woke up with a jolt. I was still in bed, thank goodness. I had started to think that Bill might have made me actually _do_ something bad to one of the twins!

Then, I noticed the other important thing that was happening in my bedroom. Mabel was gripping my shoulders, she must've woken me up. She had this look of absolute horror on her face. There were tears threatening to escape her eyes. She started screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Dipper, he's gone! He's just missing! I woke up this morning, and he just wasn't there! You've gotta find him!"

She was full-on sobbing now. _Oh no. Oh NO. OH NO!_ Bill actually _had_ used my body to do something to Dipper! I had to work really hard to breathe. I was freaking out! What had I done to him? What if he was dead? No. I had to at least _try_ to figure something out! I could use my powers to locate him, and if he was dead…

I didn't know, I would get to that if it happened. It just couldn't happen. I looked Mabel in the eye, and made a promise with the most confidence as possible.

"I will find him, Mabel. No matter what, I will find him."

Mabel wasn't supposed to be crying. Mabel was supposed to be the cheery one! I was going to fix this, all of it. We were about a week into summer, now. It had only been a week, and yet it felt like it had been years.

I stood up, and I didn't care that both of us were still in our clothes from yesterday. My new black leggings were more of a gray now, and my bright blue top was just a whole new color that probably doesn't even have a name. Mabel's shooting star sweater was just covered in dirt, and her skirt was pretty much brown now. I didn't even remember what color it had been before.

I began to focus on the most important thing. Dipper's location. I began to float, and the blue fire surrounded me. My eyes began to glow a bright blue. This was really draining, but I had to keep going. The room disappeared, and in it's place, I saw a very familiar clearing. _Of course!_ Dipper was in the clearing with the prophecy!

I dropped to the ground and grabbed Mabel's hand. We ran to the clearing, and we saw the tree and the half note. But there was no Dipper! I focused again, this time trying to get an exact location. The whole clearing was drained of color, except for one thing. I stopped breathing unconsciously.

"The tree! Mabel, the tree! He's in the tree! Or maybe he _is_ the tree, I don't know. But we've got to get him out of there!"

Mabel's eyes widened, but then she smiled. It was a weak, slightly sad smile, but it was still full of hope. We were both gaining confidence, but still bearing the weight of what was going on. I had to keep going.

"Mabel, I need you to go back to the shack. I need time to think. I need time to breathe. When I figure something out, I'll tell you. Okay?"

She looked a little bit hurt, but she did as she was told. I sat down and leaned against the tree, and I sighed. But then I stood up, clenched my fist, and started yelling. I didn't even remember that Dipper was right next to me.

"Bill, how could you do this? You keep ruining things! You know that if he's in there too long he might not be breathing when we get him back! You knew that I wouldn't be alive if you took over my body! You are deliberately trying to kill me and all my friends! You've just been sitting here, watching my life get ruined this whole time! All these years, you've been here, watching, waiting, for what? I will never surrender. I will die before I let you win, and you know it! You are inside my mind, and you can see that I will never ever give up!"

I was crying, but I wasn't sad, I was angry. Dipper was stuck, and if he was living in an inanimate object for too long, he would quit breathing. Yes, the tree was a living thing, but it lived in a different way. If he was in it for too long, he would actually starve. The tree could make its own food, but he couldn't do that. He would starve to death. I heard Bill begin to say something, but I interrupted and continued.

"He's just a kid, Bill! He wasn't meant to be involved in this! Your battle is with me, not with him! Just end this! End it now! You need to quit attacking others like a coward, and just fight _me_!"

He began to laugh. It got louder and louder until I couldn't handle it anymore. I began to scream. I blacked out. The last thing I saw was Dipper flying out of the tree, and landing on the ground. At least he was safe. At least the Pines were safe now. I could deal with that. I couldn't deal with it otherwise.

I opened my eyes, briefly wondering where I was and what was happening. Then I recognized the room that I was in. It was the portal room. We were no longer in Gravity Falls. I say "we" because Dipper was right next to me. We were strapped to chairs for some reason. Why would that be?

 _"_ _You don't get it, yet, half note? When you blacked out, I took over your body, and told Mrs. Matthews everything! You know that nightmare that you had? It's come true! And guess what? There's a twist! You're little boyfriend is here, and you're about to get your memory erased! No more memories of the Pines for you, and no more memories of your little secret for pine tree! He heard you talking to me the other day, you know. Oh, hey, that reminds me! You've been out for three weeks, and they've been interrogating_ me _! Now your memory is about to be erased! Not just your memory of the Pines, but every memory of being an agent! It's all going to be replaced with some stupid back story!"_

I quit breathing again. It didn't even seem to matter. I knew that my whole life was about to be erased. But I couldn't help but wonder why Bill wanted me stuck back home with no memory of him or Gravity Falls or anything. Then I realized it.

"No. Bill, you can't do this! Please!"

By now, Dipper was staring at me, but I didn't care. I started to cry. All my work was going to be for nothing! I wasn't going to remember Bill. They were going to end up erasing him from my mind, and therefore they were going to do exactly what they did to end Weirdmageddon! And we all know how _that_ worked out! He was going to be set free! His sister was going to free him again! Who knew how long they were planning this?

Rayla was his sister. I've mentioned her before. She's the one who freed him the first time around. She's a shapeshifter. She's still a demon, but the whole family doesn't have the same kind of power. We used to know each other. I haven't seen her in years.

Soon, Dipper started questioning me about this whole thing.

"What's going on? Bill's inside your mind? I have so many questions! What are we gonna do about this? We're gonna escape, right?"

He still trusted me! The whole summer, everything had been terrible! And he still trusted me? I shook my head to clear it. This wasn't the time. I had to get us out of my world.

"I can't answer everything right now. But I can tell you that the whole time we've been here I've been out, and Bill was in control."

Dipper's eyes widened, but I ignored it and continued.

"I can get us out of here. I'll use my magic to set you free first."

I closed my eyes and focused. When I was in my home world, I didn't float or burst into blue flame when I used magic, and it was much harder. It took a while longer, and a lot more power, but I set him free. The chains were broken in back. That way, if someone came in before we were ready, he could fake being still tied up.

It was a good thing, too, because right then, Mrs. Matthews herself walked into the room. My breathing started again just then, and it was much faster.

"Hey there, kids. I'm sorry we have to do this, but…"

She grabbed the memory extractor. It was a little different from the memory gun in Gravity Falls. It was much more powerful. She pointed it at me, and turned it on. I screamed. It felt like she was taking my blood, but it was way worse, and I was getting lightheaded. I couldn't turn my head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Dipper had his eyes closed. He looked like he was concentrating really hard on something. He was trying to use his powers! He was trying to transport us to the portal!

I started feeling really weak. He needed to get us to the portal, because I wasn't going to be able to.

I saw the portal get closer, just as I blacked out for at least the third time this month. And I felt Dipper push me through.

I opened my eyes and felt like I had been asleep for a few days. I felt stiff and really hungry. And thirsty.

I looked around me, the room was unfamiliar. There were purple curtains on the windows, which looked like mine. But they couldn't be, mine were at home, and this was not my room. I heard footsteps outside the room, and I figured it must be a hospital or something. I had obviously been out for a while, so it was possible.

The door opened, and I immediately realized that it wasn't a hospital. The boy and the girl that emerged through the door were only thirteen years old or so. They were obviously siblings, they both had brown hair, and about the same face. They might have been twins. They boy was wearing a red shirt and shorts, and a hat with a blue pine tree on it.

The girl was wearing a sweater with a shooting star on it, with a skirt and an adorable headband. She had the brightest smile ever, and it made me smile even though I had no idea who she was. I felt like I should know these kids, but I just didn't. The boy came up to me, he looked excited that I was there, just his expression made me feel special, and he spoke.

"Rana, you're awake! Are you alright? Do you need anything? I just wanted to say I love you."

I looked at him, dumbfounded. What was going on? I mean, this was really sweet, but I didn't even know him, did I?

"I mean, I'm fine. Some food might be nice, I feel like I haven't eaten in days!"

He smiled and he started to leave, while the girl came to the bed and sat down next to me, seeming excited. But I couldn't just let him leave.

"Wait! Can I ask you a few questions first?"

He turned, slightly concerned.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

I looked him in the eye, and even though I shouldn't have felt any emotion about a situation like this, there were tears in my eyes. Of course, I wouldn't let them out. They wouldn't know that I felt so awful.

"Who are you? Why do you know my name? And you don't need to say that you love me, I already know that nobody does."

The girls' eyes widened and the boy looked like he was about to burst into tears.

A/N: Okay, admit it, you cried just a little at that last section. Seriously guys, I need to know your thoughts! I ask for reviews and I have two people that have ever actually done what I said! I'm just looking for a bit of constructive criticism, and maybe a few theories! Well, there will probably only be a few more chapters of this anyways. I'm still going to make a sequel. I had it in mind already when I started this story, but it just doesn't feel like it fits together anymore. I think it needs to be its own story. See you next week with Memories Lost and Found!

Riddle: Why is there so much focus on how much Rana breathes?


	13. Memories Lost and Found

Chapter 13: Memories Lost and Found

-Rana POV-

I had no idea what was going on. The boy had asked the girl to go into the hallway with him and I heard him explaining something about memory erasing. I didn't have the energy to get up and leave at the mention of something so crazy, or else that's just what I would've done.

I thought I heard the boy refer to the girl as Mabel, so I went with that. I still had no idea what his name was, though. I just wanted to be home. Except home didn't exist. I would just be returning to the streets. There would be no point. I had to stay.

A few minutes later the girl who I had assumed was named Mabel came in with tear stained eyes. The boy wasn't with her. I began to ask questions.

In the end, I was even more confused. Apparently I was supposed to be some kind of super powerful girl who was best friends with them, but my memories got erased or something! That wasn't possible. That couldn't be true!

I lived on the streets, not in some kind of shack! I didn't even live in Oregon! There wasn't anything special about my life. I was just a normal girl who absolutely did _not_ fight evil demons!

This was too much to process. I had to be alone somewhere! I began to run towards who-knows-where. I ran and I ran and I ran. I didn't have any idea where I was going, I was just running. I don't even know how long I was running. I just know where I ended up. I ended up at a humongous pine tree with a circle around it, and a line poking out on the side.

Then I realized that the circle was a half note. There was something odd about it, though. Slowly the half note was filling itself in. I stood, staring astonished at the half note that seemed to be becoming a quarter. I shook on my less and less stable feet. Something was happening here, and it was bad.

-Mabel POV-

Rana had just run off after I explained as much as I possibly could about our little situation. It was so hard to be so serious for so long! I needed to have some fun, but first I had to find Rana. Who knew what she could end up getting herself into when she thought she was just a plain old normal girl from a whole other world?

I ran outside the shack. There was a storm brewing. Not only was Rana missing, but a literal storm was out there too! I had to find Dipper. He would want to know about this.

Just as that thought occurred to me, Dipper came running around the back of the Mystery Shack, crashing right into me. He dragged me inside again, but just as we got inside I explained what had happened with Rana.

The second I finished explaining, we ran to the one place we always found what we were looking for. We ran to the prophecy tree.

-Dipper POV-

We had to find Rana. If she was hurt from this storm, I wouldn't know how to live with myself! Mabel and I were running side by side to the prophecy tree. Rana just had to be there!

Once we had reached the tree, we saw the origin of the storm. Rana was floating, surrounded by a blue fire, center of the storm. That meant the lightning must have had some kind of magical properties.

I grabbed Mabel and ran to face Rana directly. I screamed for her to come back down, but she didn't hear me. Her eyes were glowing blue, and her body was limp. She wasn't dead, but she wasn't conscious either.

I suddenly let go of Mabel and ran to free Rana. That is, I ran until I was stopped by a scream of shock from Mabel.

"Dipper! Something's wrong with the prophecy tree! The half note is completely filled in!"

I stopped in my tracks. I slowly turned and looked towards the note. It was no longer a half note, but a quarter. And it was now completely disappearing.

This must've been some kind of symbol that Rana was slowly becoming less and less of herself. Once the note disappeared, she would be gone.

oI ran even faster towards Rana. I focused all the power that I had and jumped into the air. Suddenly I was surrounded by a blue fire. I didn't come back down to the ground. Gravity had no effect on me. Funny that would happen in Gravity Falls.

Apparently when I touched the fire way back at the very beginning, I absorbed some of that power. Rana and I were connected. I could bring her back to the ground and bring _her_ back all in one go. I could do this!

The fire surrounding me grew and grew and grew, until it touched Rana's fire. Our eyes glowed bright blue, and we got closer and closer together. I whispered a few little words into her ear before we fell to the ground.

"It's time to come back, Rana. No matter what comes after this, you'll be back."

Then we fell to the ground and we both passed out.

-Mabel POV-

Dipper and Rana had just fallen to the ground after Dipper had apparently and hopefully saved her. The storm immediately cleared up and I turned back to the tree to see if it would change or something.

And it had. The tree was even bigger, and the half note turned quarter note turned nearly nothing was still changing.

The quarter note slowly grew back, and then it became a half note again. Then the stem shrunk until it was half of its original size.

But then the worst of it all happened. The sky went red, and Bill Cipher, in his triangle form, appeared.

"Hello there, shooting star! How nice to DESTROY YOUR WHOLE TOWN AGAIN!"

I whimpered a little. He was starting another Weirdmageddon!

"You're right shooting star! That's exactly what I'm doing! And I can't have you trying to stop me, so I think I'll just trap you again! Maybe this time you and your friends can share a bubble! And it won't be a fun place this time!"

I screamed. I saw the whole place begin to become a sphere.

Then, the one thing that could have brought me hope finally happened. Dipper and Rana finally got up. Rana grabbed Dipper and I by the arms and dragged us at the speed of light back to the shack.

-Rana POV-

I had just gotten up and dragged the twins to the Mystery Shack. I remembered the twins! I remembered the shack! I was back! I stopped inside my bedroom door. I hugged both of the twins simultaneously.

"I'm back! Dipper! Mabel! I'm back! I remember you!"

They smiled so brightly I almost forgot that Weirdmageddon was happening again and this time I was a part of it. When I realized this, I frowned.

"But Bill has his physical form back. He must've escaped during the memory erasure! He's going to destroy the town!"

My face had gone so incredibly serious. I was figuring the situation out in my mind. Then I got an idea. Someone needed to defeat Bill. It needed to be me. But I needed to be alive. There wasn't much of a way around all this, except there _was_ a way of cloning oneself around here.

A/N: Yay! The final battle is near! Except there's more! Or is there? Who knows? Well, Bill's escaped, and Weirdmageddon is happening again. Could there be more secrets to reveal? Maybe, you'll just have to wait and see! In all seriousness, I am proud of how far I have come as a writer since the beginning. Thank you to all of you who have read from the start for being there the whole way through. Now I do have one little thing I will be doing for the final few chapters of "A World Away". Any theories posted in the reviews will be answered to at the end of the chapter that is posted just after the theory is sent to me. Well, that is unless it is about to be answered anyways. Can't wait for One Last Battle.

Riddle: One will die and one will live. But who is better off?


	14. One Last Battle

Chapter 14: One Last Battle

-Rana POV-

I had a plan to defeat Bill. It would have to work, it would just have to. I was going to clone myself. Then, I would let him find the clone and attack. But I would launch a sneak attack in the meantime.

The thing was, it had only been about a month since I had first gotten to Gravity Falls. And I spent the majority of it with Bill in control back home. I wasn't ready for this battle. I still hadn't used my powers for anything important since Bill was set free! I didn't know if it had weakened me or not! And I was about to go to war with the stupid triangle!

I wasn't ready.

 _No_. Of course I was. I was as ready as I was ever going to get. I was going through with this plan. If I died, then at least I tried.

I told the twins what I was about to do, and they were ready. They were going to distract him, make him think that he had the real me. The one thing I never told them was about the risk that I was taking. They didn't know how easy it was for me to simply die.

No.

I focused all of my ability, and I began to float. I was never going to get used to this. I felt the power coursing through me. In the same instant, I fell to the ground and looked up to see an exact copy of me, staring right back.

"Hey, ready to go to war?'

She sounded just like me, too. This was going to be interesting. We could easily communicate through thought. This way, everything would go over smoothly. We both tried to keep a light tone to our voices, even though the situation was so grim, and you could see it in our eyes.

The two of us stood up and in the same moment we both remembered a crucial flaw in our plan.

The original prophecy. We needed the cipher wheel thing to happen as well as keep me in the center. In the same moment, we pointed it out, and changed the plan.

"… So instead of the Pines twins distracting Bill, we'll just leave one of _us_ to do that. Then, we'll gather the symbols from the cipher wheel, and begin the attack."

Soon, Rana 2.0 dropped out of the speech, as this next part was for me to say.

"And guys, if I die in the final battle, you need to follow the other me. She will know what to do."

The whole aura of the room became grim. We all suddenly let the solemnity of the situation slap us in the face. Trying and nearly failing not to sob, I continued.

"She'll take you back to my home world, and then seal the portal. I'm sorry, but you won't be able to stay here. It won't be safe."

Dipper and Mabel started to stare at me like I was crazy. Dipper then decided to state why.

"NO! If you fail, we will defeat him again, alone! How many times have we defeated him before? We won't just run away!"

I was sobbing uncontrollably now. Once I had calmed down enough to speak, I argued back.

"Listen, he's stronger, now! Without me, all of you could be killed! You can take the whole of Gravity Falls with you, for all I care! But you can not stay."

Rana 2.0 and I exchanged a nod, we both knew what to do. She could easily extract their memories if she had to. She had all my power, just to a lesser extent, that's why she couldn't just fight him.

We all took a deep breath, and each went to find a member of the cipher wheel. Once the whole twelve of us, counting Rana 2.0 and I, were back at the shack, safe and sound, we began to make our full battle strategy. This mostly consisted of Rana 2.0 and I conversing about our plans via the mind and then me speaking it aloud.

"… So Rana 2.0 will begin by confronting Bill at the prophecy tree. Then, I will sneak out into the clearing and quietly make the wheel appear around the note, which must be the center. Once I've finished with that, you will all find your spot on the wheel as quickly as possible, and I will make my way to the middle. Once you're all holding hands - and yes, you have to be holding hands - Rana 2.0 will drive Cipher to the center, with me. Then, we will begin the process, and I will attack him. Got it?"

They all nodded, grimly. I'm sure some of them were a bit confused, but they planned to figure it out as they went, and that was all that had to happen. We were going to get a full night's rest – taking turns as night guard, of course – and in the morning we were going to attack. That was only if Bill didn't try to attack first, of course. Although we did still have the unicorn spell, we decided to be prepared, anyways.

The others went to sleep, Dipper and Mabel stayed in their own beds, and so did Stan. Ford kept the couch, and Pacifica (against her will) slept on the recliner. Wendy took the floor in the twins' room. Robbie took the other side of the room. Gideon decided to take the floor in my room (creep) and Rana 2.0 had my bed since I was on the first shift. Fiddleford Mc-what's-his-face took the spot on the floor next to the couch that Ford took.

And of course I took the front porch, awake as ever, watching to make sure that the creature that had inhabited my mind for years and years was not about to kill me and all of my friends.

I looked down to the ground. It had only been a month. One month. Everything had already changed.

As I thought about the full measure of everything that was happening, I sat down on the hard, soggy wooden front steps.

A month ago I was just letting Bill be a thing that just existed. I was going on missions. I was helping people that were known all over my world get through the situations we all thought they could get through on their own.

This was so different. Now I was saving characters from my old favorite TV show from their imminent death. I was saving them from what happened after the resolution. After you think that everything is just happiness and rainbows. After the world forgot them.

Now I was risking my life to save them from something that I myself unleashed. I was saving them from me! I knew this was going to happen when I came here. I knew this was going to happen, I just had no idea it would happen so fast!

I began to sob. I couldn't do this anymore. I didn't know how to live with the fact that I might have unleashed the doom of Gravity Falls.

This place was supposed to be a make-believe forest filled with whatever the heck you want to exist! And now it was the realest thing to me. Now I was faced with a choice. I wasn't even sure it was my decision to make! To destroy Gravity Falls, or to save it once and for all!

Suddenly, I heard the door shut ever-so-lightly. It sounded like someone was trying not to be heard, and failing miserably. I turned my head just enough to see who was there, and I saw Ford standing right behind me, with tired eyes and a slight slouch.

He came and sat next to me, just a bit more awake than before.

"I have the next shift. You can go to sleep if you like."

I stared at him, confused. My shift didn't end for another half hour!

"My shift isn't over yet, and I wouldn't like to go to sleep yet, thanks."

He gave a light smile, the kind you give when you understand what someone is saying, and then that translates to knowing exactly what they are thinking.

"You know, Rana, I don't think I would very much like to get more sleep, either. I don't know how much I want to handle all those nightmares of things that have happened in the past."

I nodded, because at this point I understood exactly what he meant.

"Well, you've seen things, horrible things! Whatever was in that portal, it sounds like at least some of it wasn't good!"

He nodded. I was right. It's not like that was a surprise. The thing that surprised me was what he said next.

"Well it sounds like you've seen about the same things! Multiple worlds and a lot of war, and of course a stupid triangle trying to ruin your life, right? We are a lot alike."

My eyes widened. He wasn't supposed to know about all that!

"How did you know all of that?"

He looked back at me and laughed. I was still wide-eyed and confused.

"Dipper told me everything, Rana. He knows about everything and so do I."

I stared at him, still wide-eyed as I finished processing this. Dipper had told him everything. Once I had finished figuring all of that out, I realized how annoyed I should be.

"He told you? Seriously? You Pines really honestly don't know how to keep your mouths shut, do you?"

We both laughed, if slightly. I mean, we _were_ about to go to war in the morning.

"So, I don't think you really _want_ to know what I saw. But may I ask what you've seen on your adventures, Rana?"

I took a deep breath. Remembering all of that was refreshing, yet horrid.

"I helped all the people that you might have seen on TV, or the 'fictional' characters you read about in books. I fought weeping angels, made friends with hobbits, stole a wand from a wizard – don't do that, by the way, it never ends well – and I've done so much more. There are so many stories I could tell, but soon, I'm not so sure I'll be able to tell them."

He nodded, but there was shock in his eyes. He hadn't expected for me to say something like that. I smiled a little and looked at my watch, just for something to do.

But then I realized that it was time for my shift to end, and it was too late to hide the clock from Ford, because he was staring at it already, with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Rana, your shift is over. I know you don't want to sleep, but you have to. You have a huge battle to fight tomorrow, and without rest, you won't be able to fight it. Good night, Rana."

As I opened my mouth to protest, he cut me off and repeated himself, with more authority this time.

"Good night, Rana."

I surrendered. I went back upstairs and got into my bed next to other me. I decided to try to get some sleep, even if it was something of a lost cause.

Nonetheless, I slowly drifted off to sleep. The burning idea that I was fighting a war in the morning gave way to pure exhaustion. Morning was far, far away.

A/N: The journey has almost ended, but I can now say for certain that a sequel will happen, and it will be called A World Away: Monsters Within. There should only be a few more chapters left of this one, but Monsters Within should be much longer, because there's probably going to be multiple plots to it. If it's not any longer, then it's probably because I split that up too, and then this will become a trilogy. To be honest, that's probably what's going to happen. Also, sorry about before. I might have said that the cipher wheel had only 8 members, when there's really ten. Anyways, can't wait for next time, with Win or Lose.

Riddle: The blue fire still surrounds her even when the demon is gone. Sound like a plot hole? Yes. Is it, though?


	15. Win or Lose

*+/9/

 _A/N: Sorry for the late update, everyone! I was kind of having a tough week or so, but everything's fine now, so it's time to get back to writing! I am also about to apologize for another horrid mistake that I've made in the past few chapters, I literally forgot about Soos completely. So I will be adding him back into the storyline in this chapter, but this is just a warning that Soos will kind of just be back out of nowhere. He was supposed to have been there the whole time, but he wasn't important to the plot until now, so….. oops!_

Chapter 15: Win or Lose

-Rana POV-

I woke to a shaking feeling. I slowly blinked my eyes open until I was fully awake, and jumped in shock. Mabel was standing right next to my bed, with Rana 2.0 on my other side just about ready to kill someone. Once it was clear that Rana 2.0 and I were awake, Mabel began yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Hey! Get up, you're the last ones asleep!"

I groaned. I didn't want today to happen. I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to face the consequences of whatever came next. Nonetheless, I still got up and groggily followed Mabel to the kitchen for breakfast. Rana 2.0 followed directly behind me, both of us slouching and looking like we were about to pass out.

Once we got to the kitchen, we found Soos, Wendy, Robbie, Dipper, Stan, Ford, Fiddleford, Gideon, and Pacifica waiting for us. They all looked like they hadn't gotten much sleep, with bags under their eyes and slouches on every last one of them. Everyone was still wearing what they had worn the night before, because we were planning to have special clothing prepared for the war.

Everyone else was already eating breakfast, and Soos was already done. Just as we walked into the room, he put away his dishes and left to gather the things that we were planning to bring. We didn't know what Bill would put us through out there, so we made a list of things to get done before we left the place, and a list of things to pack along with us. Everybody had a job to do.

Soos was gathering the things we needed, such as water and a few other tools to survive pretty much anything that Cipher put us through. Afterwards, Dipper was going to pack up the tools in a few backpacks that we had found. Everyone else had something to do meanwhile. Mabel and Pacifica had knowledge of fashion, so they were going to work on making clothes that would be able to withstand as much as possible.

Wendy had a simple job. She got up early and made breakfast, and she was going to prepare some food to help us survive out in the woods if we needed to. We had plenty of other jobs we could've used her skills for, but after some "testing" we came to the conclusion that she was the only person we could trust to cook for the group. This was probably due to the fact that she lived with a whole bunch of guys who didn't seem to know how to do anything but chop wood and lift things. (No really, I met them, it's all they can do!)

Stanley was already heading outside, about to stand guard just in case triangle boy decided to ask for a fight before we were ready. Gideon and Robbie were eating incredibly slowly just to avoid having to do their job. Robbie had to, um, shave the humongous hair off of Gideon's head. It was sort of a shame that this had to happen, but it really did. Gideon was too noticeable like this, and we needed an element of surprise.

Fiddleford was apparently attempting to build the ultimate shield, which would protect us from magic, all of us at once. I honestly doubted that he would succeed, but he was extremely intelligent again, so I figured there wasn't anything we'd lose through trying.

Last of them all, Ford was walking around making sure nothing was going wrong. Now, you'd think that would mean that he's incredibly lazy, but it didn't. It turned out that having him take on that job was fairly useful! He caught Pacifica and Mabel trying to make our clothes for the war pink and sparkly. Now, I have nothing against pink or sparkles, but it just really wasn't the time for that. Also, I don't like sparkles that much, let's just say there was an incident with a vampire, and it wasn't pretty. Did you know that vampires in most worlds really do sparkle? Now let me tell you, it's nowhere near as useful as burning up or turning to dust, not for the person that's about to be killed.

After a few minutes of silence and eating, Rana 2.0 and I were the last ones at the table. We began to have a silent conversation. You know, a telepathic conversation. Rana began, and her voice in my head sounded much like the way Bill's did when he spoke to me in my mind, you know, back when he was trapped there.

" _What are we going to do? If you die, Rana, the kids won't be happy to follow me. How am I supposed to live with myself if I erase their memories? I mean, you've done it once before, but not to this scale! How much will I need to erase, anyways? Wouldn't I have to erase all of Gravity Falls from their minds if they won't follow me back home? They won't just forget this place, they'll forget everyone they met here, and me! What about everyone else? Do I just leave them? Do I erase their memories of this place, too? That's their entire lives!"_

She began to speak, or think, so fast that if it was aloud then she would've been hyperventilating. Scratch that, she was hyperventilating. I thought for a moment. This was a real issue. I focused on sending a thought her way. _Well, we know that it will be a little bit tough, but we can always give them back their memories when they're ready. And if they're never ready, then it'll have to be once you've gotten yourselves as far away from any portals as possible. Do what you need to do. Also, yes, take the others, they need to be safe, too. If you need to, erase all of their memories. You can replace them with lives in our world. We already know it's possible to do that._

She looked a little bit shameful as she nodded her agreement to my answer. We had to do this. There was no other way. After we finished the conversation, we finished our breakfasts in silence. Once we were done eating, everyone else had finished their jobs. There was a fully-packed backpack for each one of us, and a meal inside. Gideon actually might've looked better with a buzz-cut, and Robbie looked like he had been scarred for life. Then again, so did Gideon.

Fiddleford had succeeded in creating the ultimate shield, and it was all packed up into a small box that I kept in my backpack. There was a button that I could push if I needed to use it, but we were hoping that we wouldn't need it too much. It wouldn't last much more than one minute of attacking, considering that kind of technology shouldn't have even been possible. Then again, I was about to battle an evil demon triangle with a top hat and a bowtie with my magical powers, so I'd lost a hold of what should or should not have been possible by then.

Anyhow, Mabel and Pacifica had finished the outfits, and they were quite durable, really. They had found some fabrics that would be easy to move in, but they were also fire-resistant, water-resistant, warm and cozy, yet able to be formed into a cooler outfit, and with some help from our resident nerds, magic-proof.

The uniforms were also made to be able to blend in with our surroundings. As in I used a little bit of magic to make them blend into anything. They also had hoods that would go all the way over our faces, but we could see through them, because I made the inside blend into the surroundings on the outside. If you don't understand what this means, basically they were invisible both ways. Nobody could see inside them, but we could see out. It's like those windows that look like mirrors, only they don't look like mirrors, they look like nothing.

We got changed into the war clothes, and met back up again by the door. We were ready to go to war. I took a deep breath and said what would probably be the last thing I could ever say in almost-peace.

"Let's go."

A/N: Well, then. This is getting intense! Or it's about to, anyways. Another quick bit of information, I will be making a few stories that aren't actually sequels, but sort of what Rana does while she is away from Gravity Falls, before I write the sequel. That's basically going to be what my account is going to be, with a few exceptions. Be sure to check those out once I make them! We already know that Rana has been to many worlds besides Gravity Falls, wouldn't it be nice to know what happens in those other worlds? Anyways, I hope you stick around for the next chapter, One Will Live.

Riddle: If Gravity Falls' magic has weakened, why is Rana so strong?


	16. One Will Live

Chapter 16: One Will Live

-Rana POV-

We had been walking for a while now. The whole 12 of us were heading towards the prophecy tree for the war. We were all silent except for our heavy breathing and our light footsteps. Nobody was visible, thanks to my magic, but we still didn't want to be heard. If that stupid Doritos rip-off heard us coming, we were dead!

As I looked straight ahead, I could see the prophecy tree coming into view. We were almost there. I just didn't know what would happen once we got there. Would he win? What would happen if we won, anyways? I couldn't go home, anymore. There was nothing to go back to. I was no longer a part of the agency!

That didn't matter, because my only chance to beat this villain was coming. It was coming ever so quickly. In fact, by the time I was done processing this thought, we had reached the prophecy tree. It was odd, because the stem on the half note seemed shorter than usual. It must have been the lighting.

I focused on teleporting to the other side of the clearing, as the group took off their hoods. From the other side, I made their clothes visible again, and they were completely black. The minute they all became visible, Bill showed up, just as planned, with all of his stupid other-worldly goons.

The second he appeared, I created the wheel around the half note. The others all ran directly to their places, with Bill following them. He followed them directly to the middle, the demonic moron. I ran to the middle behind him, and focused until I began to float. He still hadn't completely processed what was going on, so I still had time. Just as I appeared directly behind his gigantic form, he turned around. It was too late, though.

I kept on focusing on defeating him. He was slowly deteriorating, until he began to laugh. He began to laugh his horrible, maniacal laugh. He then began to push back. His magic was stronger than mine, more experienced. Even with the others in the circle below us, we weren't strong enough to defeat him, yet. We should've waited.

I was about to die. My life flashed before my eyes. And before you jump to conclusions, it wasn't the kind of thing that you expect that statement to mean. My life literally flashed before my eyes. I was no longer facing Bill Cipher. I was back at the Shack, _watching_ myself reassuring Rana 2.0 that things would be okay, even if I die. I guess she really did need to hear that, considering the circumstances. I'm fairly sure that to the others, I had already passed out, but this was not death, not yet. They probably thought I was dead, but this was just what happened before death.

Next, I was watching myself escaping from the memory erase. Then I saw the first discovery of the prophecy tree, and then the discovery of my powers. Within minutes I was already watching myself meet the Pines for the first time. Just then, a bright light flashed before my eyes, and the last thing I saw before I was jerked back to reality was two young girls next to a younger looking Bill Cipher.

As I was jerked back to reality, I realized that I was no longer floating next to Bill, but standing exactly where Rana 2.0 had been standing. Also, Rana 2.0 was up where I was supposed to be, dying. None of the others had seen us switch places. She had just sacrificed herself for me! No. She did it for the good of the Pines, because that's what I would've done. I saw her fall to the ground, and I ran to the others, because I knew what I had to do. They were still in shock. They had sort of just seen me die, so I couldn't blame them. I had plenty of time to open the portal back home in the meantime.

I had nearly died in this battle. This was proof that we couldn't beat him, at least not now. He was too strong, and he couldn't get to us back home. I focused on creating a portal to go home, before I realized the horrible truth of the matter.

I was too weak to open a portal. It couldn't be done. I didn't have much time, so I had to think of something quickly.

Just as I'd lost all hope, I felt a new weight in my backpack. I speedily turned to see what it was. A TV remote had appeared in my bag! I didn't know what use it would be, until I saw a note attached.

"Rana, this is no ordinary remote. Use it to return home, and put it to good use afterwards. Love, Lily."

I gasped. I had heard of these. The founder of the agency, Lily Wood had made the only existing one of these way back before the agency was even a thing. Why would she give it to me, though? Why would she give me something so rare and important? And Lily was supposed to have disappeared years ago! I shook my head. This didn't matter right now, I would think about it once I got back home. I pressed the one button that I knew for sure how to use, the home button. The home button would take me to Lily's old home, which would be very close to mine.

The rest of the group was surrounding me, and they all came through the portal as well. Although none of them wanted to. Immediately as we appeared back home, complaints rang through the air. We were in the apartment inside the agency, the one that Lily used to live in. Every last one of the people of Gravity Falls knew that. Well, they knew that we were no longer in Gravity Falls. That's all they needed to understand to get extremely angry at me.

I don't want to go into what they said, mostly because I would never repeat most of that stuff. I didn't want to take it, so I simply just erased their memories, replacing them with new memories of living in my world. I was too weak to make anything very specific, but they all had memories of my world, and of plans to move to the same small town that I lived in. None of them knew me, but I could live with that. They would all soon live nearby, so I would be fine. I would have to be fine.

After the memory wipe, I went home before they could realize what I had done. In their new minds, I was a random stranger.

As I walked into my home, I felt a rush of nostalgia. I had just gotten home from the adventure of a lifetime, and I had lost the final battle. I didn't have a job anymore, and I had lost nearly everything. Gravity Falls was my home, now, and I just left it behind. I looked around at the lavender wallpaper and the poster of a mermaid on the wall next to my roommate's bed. The mermaid poster was because she was obsessed with that kind of thing ever since she found out about her family's past.

She was also an agent, and she was 15 years old, but we obviously never told the authorities that. Her parents were killed when she was only 2. She didn't know until she was ten that she was actually part siren. Basically, a siren is a mermaid type creature that can lure its prey using its voice. Not all sirens use humans for their prey, though. Some of them settle with sea creatures. My roommate's mom was one of those kinds of sirens.

The problem was, her dad was a human, and _apparently_ that's illegal or something! My roommate, Serena, can morph from human to siren and back again. She was discovered by Mrs. Matthews just a little while after her parents died, and raised with the agency. She and I have used her "vocal advantages" to start a band. She can do a lot more with her voice that doesn't, you know, kill people. She can hypnotize, for example. Now, we haven't used it for too much, but we've definitely kept a few of the creeps away. Or in her case, gotten a few of them closer.

Serena was sitting on her bed, staring at me. She had bright red hair and her skin was almost pale but not quite. She wore ripped jeans and a black top with a leather jacket. She had just about the opposite style as me. I liked to stick with brighter colors and simpler style. Just about a second after I walked in, she ran towards me and gave me the tightest bear hug you could ever imagine.

"Rana, you're back! How'd it go?"

At the thought of how the mission went, I began to tear up. I explained the situation to Serena, as she sat and listened. Once we settled into our beds for the night, I began to think that I might be okay after all.

A/N: Well, I bet you weren't expecting that! You weren't, right? If you were, then you seriously need to start making money off of that talent! I hope it wasn't too much to take in so quickly! Anyways, the story's not over, yet, but it will be soon! I hope you all stick around for the next chapter, Repeat, Restart, Retaliate.

Riddle: The secrets are closer than you could ever imagine. The end is now near, the answers unclear, but there is still much for our heroes to fear.


	17. Repeat, Restart, Retaliate

Chapter 17: Repeat, Restart, Retaliate

-Rana POV-

It had been about a month since we had gotten back home. I had adjusted to life without random missions in other worlds, but it still wasn't fun. Within the first week, I realized that the Pines were living across the hall from me in the huge apartment building that we lived in. It didn't take very long for me to suck it up and just become friends with the new versions of my old friends. It was still summer, so Dipper, Mabel and I would always go out and just have fun wherever. I had found out where all the others had ended up.

Most of the kids were living with an adult from the group. Pacifica ended up staying with the Pines, and she usually went with us whenever we went out. Wendy and Robbie and Gideon all ended up staying with Mc-what's-his-name, and they had a fairly nice house. He invented the first holographic calling technology and a lot more, too. Soos ended up by himself, but he seemed fairly happy.

It wasn't ideal, but I could live with it. Serena was always waiting for me when I got home, the only person left in the universe that I could trust completely. One day I came home with the Pines twins and Pacifica by my side, and nothing was as it seemed.

The four of us walked into my apartment, and saw Serena. She waved as usual. Her outfit consisted of some new boots and a very black dress which reached just above her knees. She also wore a plain black beanie on her head. Everything seemed completely normal. I greeted her and so did the Pines and Pacifica. She was oddly quiet. To fill the awkward silence that she left, I spoke.

"So, Serena, we're having guests tonight! Mabel and Pacifica will be staying the night, and Dipper is going to stay as late as possible. I hope you're all set for a night of fun!"

Pacifica and Mabel waved at the mention of their names. Seeing them wave was quite a difference from Serena. They were dressed completely opposite. Pacifica was wearing an icy blue skirt that reached just below her knees, with a plain white top to go with it. Her sneakers were also an icy blue to match her skirt. Mabel, on the other hand, was dressed in her usual look with a purple puppy sweater, a huge contrast to Serena and her completely black attire.

Still, something was very wrong with Serena, and I could sense it. The minute I was ready to investigate, Serena began to switch forms. And not in the way that should be possible for her. She morphed into a slightly taller blonde girl with a little black bow in her hair and a completely golden dress. She also wore black boots, but they had fairly tall heels on them, explaining the height change.

She looked familiar. She looked like Bill Cipher. Just at that moment I realized that the girl we were looking at definitely wasn't Serena. She wouldn't have worn a dress. I should've known in the beginning. The second realization that I came to was much more horrifying.

There was absolutely a reason why she looked like Bill Cipher. We were face to face with Bill Cipher's sister, Rayla, the shape shifter! _Oh no! What do we do?_ I thought.

There was only one thing that I knew to do at the moment. I positioned myself in front of my friends, and spoke to Rayla.

"Hello, Rayla. I would say it's good to see you again, but considering the circumstances? Not so much."

The girl smirked. At one time, I would have been happy to see her again. When we were younger, she was my friend. But now, she was on the enemy's side. She was siding with her brother. Or so I thought.

"Look, Rana. I know we aren't best friends or anything, anymore. But here's the thing. I don't like what my brother's doing any more than you do. I set him free thinking he would let me rule the world by his side, but he refused. I saved him and he betrayed me. So listen, I don't want to go back to Gravity Falls. I don't need that. Now, I don't need him dead or anything, but I need you to trap him, send him back here. Keep him from achieving his stupid goals."

I was sure she could see the confusion on my face. My acting and keeping of a cover story was getting very rusty without training. None of this was about a badge anymore. It wasn't about revenge, either. I mean, he probably killed my parents, but that wasn't what I cared about anymore. I just wanted to save my friends.

"Where is Serena? What do you want? How did you find me?"

I asked all of my questions at once. Well, they were all of my questions for the moment. I shuddered as she responded.

"Serena? Well Serena is inside this little box right here! She really did put up quite a fight, but I _always_ win in the end."

As she explained, she pulled out a small multi-colored box. It couldn't have even been the size of my thumb! But I knew what it was. The little box was called a prison box, because once you've opened it and pointed it towards someone, they became trapped inside. Not only are they trapped inside, but the prison box will form a large reality inside the small area, and incorporate every nightmare that the prisoner has ever had into this reality.

And now my best friend was trapped inside. As the idea sunk in, Rayla continued.

"To answer your second question, I won't ask too much of you. I only want you to go back to Gravity Falls and, you know, send him to a place where he can't make things harder for me. Please do understand that I do not want him dead. I only want him contained. Once you have accomplished this task, you can have your friend back."

I sighed. There wasn't much to say besides yes. I couldn't say no. I couldn't refuse or else Serena would be trapped forever. And still, Rayla continued.

"It isn't complicated at all, really. She's trapped in here until you have sent Bill Cipher out of your friends' realm! I'll leave her here. Once Bill is no longer in Gravity Falls, it will trigger an immediate opening of the box!"

I looked to my feet. The Pines twins and Pacifica Northwest were still by my side. They heard the whole conversation, and they understood none of it. I would have to explain once Rayla was gone. I suddenly turned my head towards Dipper, who was staring at Rayla like he knew her, but didn't. It was probably my crappy magic not being strong enough. Then I looked to Mabel and Pacifica, who were looking at me with utter confusion, both seeming to be reconsidering whether or not I was to be trusted.

Just after prying my gaze from my astonished friends, I heard Rayla's voice again. She sounded oh so much like her brother.

"I'll even give you a little tip! Remember your symbol. Remember just how important it always seemed? You're strongest magic is your voice. You should use it against him. If you find the most powerful song to ever be used in Gravity Falls, then you can beat him. Also, don't forget the tree and the half note prophecy. You need the pine tree to assist you, while I admit I'm not sure how."

I took in all her words in one instant. I still had no idea what to make of them, though, until she added to it.

"And one more thing on that topic, you should remember another thing. The show ended on purpose. This would imply that _someone_ involved in the show had some idea that you were coming. They would've given you clues as to what the song might be. After all, sometimes, very rarely, a creator of a new portal can change how the world works."

I listened to the words, latching onto every little detail. And I finally figured out what song it was. There was a reason that song was so catchy. The theme song for Gravity Falls could take down its main villain! Am I the only one to find just a little bit of irony in that?

Just as I finished taking in the whole weight of the matter, Rayla vanished, leaving Serena in her box on the floor. It wouldn't open, though, not until I trapped Bill Cipher. I turned towards the Pines and Pacifica. They were all staring at me, awaiting an answer. I took a while to explain the whole situation.

"…and then I had to bring us back here and erase your memories and I'm _so_ sorry!"

They began to look at me like I was crazy, until I focused my energy and began to float in the air. The blue fire began to surround me, and my eyes began to glow a bright blue. Within a few seconds, I dropped back to the ground, and my three friends fell to their knees.

All three of us stood at the same moment, and we all made a hopeful face at each other. Then Dipper ran to me and hugged me as tight as possible! The others followed suit. Once all of that was over, Dipper's expression became angry.

"I told you not to do this! I told you to let us stay and fight. Why didn't you listen to me?"

Mabel and Pacifica looked to the ground. They didn't seem to know whether they should be relieved or angry. Then, suddenly, Dipper's face became shadowed with a sudden realization.

"Wait a minute, Rana died in battle. You're not Rana! You're just the clone!"

It obviously wasn't true, but he didn't know yet. I wasn't even sure that he'd believe me if I told him the truth, but I tried anyways.

"No! The clone somehow took my place! I'm Rana! Dipper, I'm Rana, and I'm sorry, but now we are going to fix this, once and for all. I know how to beat him now!"

His face stayed angry, betrayed, and suspicious. He wouldn't listen. He was too stubborn. He was too clever to just believe me, immediately.

"I don't believe you. Rana would have gone back into battle, or at least let us keep our memories!"

I tried to stop myself from crying, miraculously succeeding for the time being.

"I had to make some terrible decisions, but it's me! I'm not a clone, Dipper!"

He just turned away, although he did say one last thing.

"I still don't trust you, clone. I'll help to defeat Bill, but afterwards, I never want to see you again!"

This time I burst into tears, and I didn't try to stop it. I hated this horrid pain. I wanted so much for all of this to end. So I went out and rounded up the rest of the group, returned their memories, and brought the remote out of hiding. Most of the others forgave me, and they believed that I was me, but Dipper wouldn't believe it. This was becoming a lost cause, so I gave it up. It was still tough, though, really tough.

We returned to Gravity Falls without much conversation and the wheel was still there. The town seemed to be in even more chaos than there had been before we left. Everyone went to their symbol and grabbed hands. I yelled out for Bill to face me, and he appeared right in front of me.

Yup, he was still a moron. Anyways, I began to float with the blue fire surrounding me. I began to think how odd it was that the blue fire was still there. Wasn't it a result of Bill residing in my mind? I decided not to dwell on it. Just as I began to sing the song that would defeat him, Bill mentioned the one thing that would stop me from attacking.

"Half note, wait! Don't you want to know what happened to your precious family?"

I froze. And I stopped, and I listened.

A/N: There will only be a little bit of this story left, but as I have already mentioned, Rana's story is never over. I want to hear theories on who her family is, come on! I want to know if anybody has gotten close to the answer! Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter, and I hope you stick around for the next one, A Broken Family!

Riddle: Three little children in one child's eye. One happy family, one big long lie. To fix this family, no one will try. Who are the children, why must one die?


	18. A Broken Family

Chapter 18: A Broken Family

-Rana POV-

He had information about my family! I couldn't just ignore that, could I? As I froze in place, Bill began to laugh maniacally. Or is that just his normal laugh? Oh yeah, it's both! After he finished his fit of laughter, he began to speak. This had to mean that he _really_ wanted me to hear whatever he was going to say.

"So you want to know the truth about your family, then? You really want to know? Are you sure?"

He broke out into another fit of maniacal laughter. Once he had finished, I nodded solemnly. Whatever information he had, I needed it. If there was even a clue about what he did to my family, then I would find it.

"Oh, half note, do you really still believe that _I_ killed your family? You seem to forget I can read minds! I did nothing to your parents, kid. Mrs. Matthews and a few other agents did. Anyways, I was going to tell you that you still have a living brother and sister, you know, look at the bright side and all that! But you don't want to hear about that, do you?"

I gasped. If any of this was true, then my whole life had been a lie. I might've still had a brother and sister? And the agency killed my parents? No. He could easily be lying. He had to be lying!

…

But he also could've been telling the truth. I let him continue.

"Alright then, half note! You _might_ regret this! Your brother and sister are much closer than you've ever really understood! Have you never wondered why you still have your powers? Have you never wondered why that fire is still there? Isn't that supposed to be a Cipher thing?"

I took a few seconds to process what that must've meant. But then I realized.

"Wait a minute. You don't mean…?"

He laughed again. And then I knew that it was true. It all made sense. No wonder neither one of them ever actually killed me.

"So now you know! Rana Cipher. You've always had magic, little sis. Touching the crystals only reawakened that magic! Dipper actually did absorb some of it, though. You know, little sis, your powers are very special. You seem completely human until one looks much deeper. I honestly didn't recognize you at first all those years ago!"

My head was aching so hard. I felt like I was dying. But then, I realized, I was. This whole time while Bill was telling me about my family, he was attacking me, and I didn't even know it. I had lost. There was no way I could win this anymore. The song that was my one weapon was useless. I couldn't even let out the lightest squeak. At least Dipper knew I was the real me by now. At least I would die knowing who I really was. Rana Cipher.

Mrs. Matthews had told me a few years back that the agency had had an enormous battle against the Cipher family, and killed the parents. I always thought of it as an amazing story that filled me with peace. I had always thought of it wrong. I never knew that she was really telling me the story of how my parents died. Now I finally realized that Mrs. Matthews was truly insane. She didn't seem so on the surface, but I guess in truth it was always a bit obvious.

She put children to work in situations that they may not come back from. She killed my parents. She sent me here and then sent me home. She didn't get the portal because she wouldn't use it correctly. I began to grow limp.

Suddenly as I thought it was all over, I realized what I was letting happen. If Bill killed me, then he would surely kill Dipper and Mabel. He would kill everyone in Gravity Falls! Serena would never escape! I began to struggle. I could do it. I could win. Even if it killed me, I would defeat my…..brother. I opened my mouth and tried to push the notes out. I could hear my brother's laugh in the background. Then, something odd happened.

I felt something rise up beside me. I looked to my right, and sure enough, Dipper was there. He reached out to touch me and immediately I felt a jolt of life flow through me. There was another copy of Dipper down in the circle. He had cloned himself! I began to sing again, and Dipper sang with me. His voice really was nice. It didn't crack anymore like it did the year before. We sang until Bill's laugh became a scream. He was dying!

I didn't want to kill him so much, knowing he was my brother and all. Still, there was no other logical solution. If I couldn't trap him in my mind, he wouldn't be trapped anywhere else, either.

Just then, the worst image I'd ever seen was right in front of my paling face. Bill was glitching! His face was deteriorating and then coming back to normal. Then it would melt and turn into something so terrifying I can't even describe. Then he just, died. He was no longer there. Dipper dropped to the ground with purpose and relief. I simply fell. I felt a huge pulse of power run through me, and then flow throughout Gravity Falls, and I heard it hit the barrier with a deafening crash. The last thing I saw was Serena picking me up, holding the remote, and teleporting us home. I didn't have a chance to protest. I blacked out.

I awoke in my bed inside my old apartment. I looked to my side and saw Serena. She was wearing the usual ripped jeans and t-shirt featuring some rock band. I sat up. It was nice to be home, but it was sort of depressing. I knew how hard it would be to go back to Gravity Falls after this; to face all of those people that I almost let down. I would still miss the twins though. And I'd definitely miss Wendy, Pacifica, Soos, all of them. They had become my friends. They had become my best friends. But I needed to figure out my powers before going back there. I would go to other worlds and I would work on my magic.

Outside of Gravity Falls I expected that my magic wouldn't be quite as powerful. Trust me, it was still powerful, just not as much. I would go back to Gravity Falls next summer, and I would meet them again. I just couldn't now, I couldn't do it yet.

Just then, Rayla appeared in our kitchen.

She was angry.

"I TOLD YOU TO TRAP HIM, RANA!"

She came closer, and suddenly her teeth became fangs sharp enough to cut diamond. Her eyes glowed a fiery red. She was shifting into some kind of monster.

"Please, I didn't have any other choice!"

Her fury only seemed to grow.

"YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!"

At that moment, I saw some other emotion in my sister's eyes. It wasn't rage. It wasn't boredom. She was sad. But as quickly as the sadness appeared, it gave way to pure evil. She came closer and closer until I was sure she would kill me for what I had done to her brother. _Our_ brother. Tears began to fill my eyes. I would die a murderer.

But then, Serena began to sing. Her song distracted Rayla just long enough for me to do one last thing I would regret. I put her in the prison box. She would never be able to hurt me or my friends ever again.

I dropped the box on the ground and turned to lay down in bed. Tomorrow I would begin preparation for my return to my true home. Gravity Falls would see me again soon.

 ** _The End_**

AN: The sequel is on it's way, everyone! I have actually been planning it for a very long time. The only reason it is even a different story is because - well - it's a whole different story! I can't wait for you to see everything that happens once Rana takes a year away from Gravity Falls.

Riddle: Fix the mistakes that have changed your whole world. The clock is ticking. Your life could explode. Freedom and peace are not an option.

 _"_ _I DIDN'T KNOW! I didn't know."_


	19. Improved Sequel Preview

A/N: I had to delete the Undertale story because it turned out to be a really bad idea. It was poorly planned out and everything I did to make it happen messed up the story completely. So I am going to fix it. I'm going to be honest. Rayla was never supposed to end up being good. So I'm going to do something for you. By now I have remade the last chapter of the story. Go back and read the new version, and then you can come back to this. Also keep an eye out for the actual sequel. It will be out very soon. Oh, by the way, you didn't think I would leave you with just an author's note, did you? With that, here's a little bit on how it's going in Gravity Falls right about now.

-Dipper POV-

I didn't think Rana would leave us like this.

It'd been 6 months since Rana left Gravity Falls. That power blast from right after she killed Bill left the entire town trapped.

She still hadn't come back. Why hadn't she come back? I trusted her, and where did that get me?

There was no way of getting out. Our parents had gotten worried and attempted to come into town, but some sort of force field had formed since Rana left. That wasn't all she did, though. It was so much worse than that.

Honestly, I wasn't sure she even knew. She might not have seen it before she went home.

She didn't only change the town. She changed the people, too. Everything's been different in the past 6 months.

On the bright side, Mabel and I had our fourteenth birthday somewhere during the chaos.

A/N: I hope you guys like this version of the story better and move on to the sequel to find out exactly what Rana did.

Riddle: Magic is _always_ more than it seems.


End file.
